The Silver Claw
by Mayumi-san
Summary: A National Treasure has been stolen! Ban and Ginji are hired to get it back. But wait, they're going to be up against a notorious smuggling group. Can the Get Backers handle it? (this fic will center mostly on Ban) COMPLETE!
1. Get Back the Mikazuki Munechika!

Disclaimer: The Get Backers are the property of Ayamine Rando and Aoki Yuya. Since you're reading this without paying me a cent, it's quite obvious that I'm not making money off this.

* * *

Two men dressed in business suits stopped walking outside the Honky Tonk Cafe. One of them, who seemed like he was in his forties, looked at the Honky Tonk sign, then at a yellow flyer in his hand.  
  
"Looks like we're here", he said to his younger companion, who nodded and pushed the cafe door open.  
  
Wan Paul, the owner of the Honky Tonk cafe, smiled at them as they came in. "Good evening", he said. "How may I help you?"  
  
"Do you know where we can find...", the older man started to say, then paused as he held the flyer up. "... the Get Backers?"  
  
Paul pointed with his thumb to one of the booths at the far corner of the cafe. The man directed his gaze at the booth and stared. A spiky-haired brunette was stuffing a slice of pizza into his mouth like there was no tomorrow, while a blond stuffed-toy-like creature was trying to reach for the pizza over the brunette's shoulders. The brunette seemed to be successful in warding off the creature, much to the creature's dismay.  
  
"Ban-chan!! That's mine!", wailed the poor-looking creature.  
  
The two men's jaws dropped to the floor.  
  
"My god", gasped the older man. "It can talk."  
  
Paul cleared his throat. The brunette looked up and froze as he saw the two men staring at him. The blond took advantage of the brunette's distraction and grabbed one of the slices of pizza. He stuffed the whole slice into his mouth and started to chew when he turned his head and saw what got his partner's attention.  
  
The older man opened his mouth to speak, then hesitated when he saw the blond doll staring back at him.  
  
Noticing his companion's discomfort, the younger man spoke up. "Are you the Get Backers?", he asked.  
  
The brunette gulped down the last of the pizza that was in his mouth and replied, "Yes, we are. This way please." He stood up and led them to a clean booth. The blond doll transformed into a normal-looking guy in an instant and followed them.  
  
"How did you...?", the older man said as he looked at the blond in amazement. He suddenly shook his head. "Never mind."  
  
"I'm Mido Ban", the brunette said as they settled down.  
  
"And I'm Amano Ginji", said the blond.  
  
The older man smiled and said, "Pleased to meet you. My name is Wataki Taese." He motioned his hand at his companion. "And this is my assistant Manoyu Ishido."  
  
The assistant bowed his head in greeting. "Pleased to meet you."  
  
"So you want us to retrieve something?", asked Ban.  
  
Wataki's smile disappeared. "Yes", he replied. "I'm a curator at the Tokyo National Musuem, and..." He paused as his eyes took on a pained look. "... we've lost something very valuable."  
  
Manoyu reached inside his suit and took out a photograph. Ban took the photograph from his hand, looked at it, then stared at the men.  
  
"You're kidding."  
  
Wataki shook his head. "I wish I am, but unfortunately, I'm serious."  
  
Ginji took the photograph from Ban's hand and looked at it. He saw an intricate-looking Tachi sword [1]. "Wow", he breathed. "This is a beautiful sword."  
  
"That's not just any beautiful sword", Ban told him. "That's the Mikazuki Munechika, one of the Tenka Go Ken [2]. It's considered a National Treasure."  
  
"Yes, yes, it IS a treasure", Manoyu nodded his head. Then his face suddenly turned serious as he looked at the retrieval experts. "So you understand how important it is to get it back."  
  
Ban met Manoyu's eyes with his. "So how did you manage to lose something so important?"  
  
"Ban-chan", Ginji hissed at him.  
  
"It's okay, Amano-san," Wataki smiled at them sadly. "I ask myself that question ever since it got stolen."  
  
Ginji's eyes widened. "Stolen?", he asked.  
  
Manoyu nodded. "Last week", he replied. "During the storm."  
  
A strong typhoon had hit Japan the week before. Although it didn't hit Tokyo directly, it still brought great thunderstorms that damaged some homes and some electrical systems.  
  
"We had the minimum number of security personnel during that time", Manoyu continued. "There was a power failure at about 2:00 in the morning. We thought it was caused by the storm. We called the police as soon as we realized that somebody had deliberately tampered with our security systems, but the storm caused the police to be delayed. By the time they arrived, the thief was already gone."  
  
Ban thought about what Manoyu said. "But since the sword is a National Treasure, shouldn't this be a job for the police?", he asked.  
  
Manoyu looked at Wataki with a questioning look. After a moment, Wataki nodded at his assistant. The assistant turned his head back to the retrieval experts, and sighed heavily.  
  
"We've just lost... two policemen ... in a failed attempt to recover the sword", Manoyu said. "They're currently in the process of planning a new operation."  
  
"The museum has been doing its own investigation", Wataki said. "It's not like we don't have faith in the police. It's just that we would like to have the sword back as soon as possible, so we're trying all means to recover it." He paused.  
  
"Go on", Ginji said as he nodded.  
  
Wataki continued. "We hired informants to find out where the sword is, and where it's headed. So far, they've been doing a great job. Right now, we need to hire other people to actually retrieve it."  
  
"What do your informants say?", Ban asked. "Where is the sword now?"  
  
Wataki gave a little smile. "We can't tell you that ... unless you accept this job." His face turned serious. "It's important that this doesn't get out. The public shouldn't even SUSPECT that the sword is missing."  
  
Ban raised his eyebrows. "Don't you think that's a little hard? I mean, people would kinda notice that the Mikazuki Munechika isn't on display, wouldn't they?"  
  
Wataki and Mayuno looked at each other again. Wataki looked at Ban, then at Ginji, seemingly trying to decide whether to trust them. Finally, he sighed.  
  
"The one at the museum", Wataki started to say, "is a replica." [3]  
  
Ban stared at Wataki.  
  
"Like I said, the public shouldn't suspect that the sword is missing", Wataki continued as he looked at Ban straight in the eye. "Which is why we would like to hire you. We hear you have talent for discretion."  
  
Ban looked back at him. "Indeed we do."  
  
"We'll pay you eight hundred thousand yen", Wataki said. "Four hundred thousand now, and four hundred thousand when you give us the sword."  
  
Ban thought for a moment, then said, "Wataki-san, are there other complications to this mission that we should know about?"  
  
Wataki's eyebrows shot up. "Complications?", he asked.  
  
"Yes. Complications. Such as, say, other people who may be after the sword, perhaps?"  
  
A smile slowly crept into Wataki's lips. "Ah, complications." He nods in understanding. "Well ... " Wataki's expression turned serious. "Have you heard of the Dark Fleet?"  
  
Ginji slowly shook his head. He looked at Ban, who seemed to be thinking. Finally, Ban said, "An international smuggling organization."  
  
Wataki smiled again. "So you've heard of them?"  
  
Ban nodded. "Yeah, I've heard of them." He narrowed his eyes. "Do they consider the sword ... a high priority?"  
  
Ginji, who was beginning to be confused, looked back from Ban to Wataki.  
  
"It most probably is", Wataki answered. He smiled at them. "But THAT shouldn't be a problem, should it? I've been told that you are the best retrieval team around."  
  
Ban just smirked back at the curator.  
  
"So what do you say, Mido-san, Amano-san?" Wataki looked at each retriever in the eye as he said their name.  
  
Ban raised his eyebrows. "If it's high priority, that means we have to deal with the Silver Claw, isn't that right?"  
  
Wataki nodded slowly. He looked at Ginji, then back at Ban. After a long moment, he said, "Alright. I'll make it one million yen, then."  
  
Ginji's mouth dropped open. He turned to Ban, drooling.  
  
Ban shook his head. "Two million."  
  
Ginji's eyes become wider. "Ban-chan...", he whispered.  
  
Ban whispered back, "Shut up, Ginji."  
  
Wataki thought for a moment, then said, "I'll give you five hundred thousand now; two million when you give me the sword."  
  
This time, it was Ban's mouth that dropped open.  
  
Recovering quickly, Ban smiled and said, "The Get Backers accept this job."

* * *

Note: More on the Dark Fleet and the Silver Claw on the next chapter. Look forward to it!  
  
[1] The Tachi sword is the first type of Japanese sword to use a long curved blade.  
  
[2] Tenka Go Ken - Five Most Famous Swords in Japan. The Mikazuki Munechika really exists, and is currently (as of this writing) at Room 13 of the Tokyo National Museum. Unfortunately, the sword exhibition will be there only up to Dec. 5, 2004. So go check it out if you can ;-)  
  
[3] The one at the Tokyo National Museum is NOT a replica. It's the real thing. My apologies to the museum. Please don't sue me.


	2. Inside The Karekawa Mansion

Disclaimer: Nope, still not earning a cent from this one.

Author's Notes: I changed the rating on this one to PG-13 for mild cursing. Since things are starting to happen, we're gonna get to see more of Ban's colorful vocabulary in the next chapters =)

* * *

"Ban-chan, what is the Silver Claw?", Ginji asked as soon as their clients Wataki Taese and Manoyu Ishido left the Honky Tonk cafe.  
  
"The Silver Claw is not a WHAT, Ginji," Ban replied. "It's a WHO."  
  
"Eh?"  
  
The Get Backers' clients had left them with a map to the Mikazuki Munechika's reported location -- the mansion of a certain private collector named Karekawa. They had also left them a layout of the mansion, some papers containing various information that could help them in their mission, and of course, Ban's favorite -- a clean crisp check.  
  
Ban ran his fingers along the amount written on the check that he was currently holding and smiled. Ah yes, five hundred thousand yen for not having done anything yet is not bad, he thought. Not bad at all.  
  
"Ban-chan?"  
  
"Huh?", Ban said, snapping back to reality.  
  
"Who is the Silver Claw?"  
  
"Well, he's the Dark Fleet's topmost agent", Ban said as he folded the precious check and put it into his shirt pocket. "When the organization needs a very important task done swiftly and correctly, they assign him. In short, he takes care of the high priority stuff."  
  
Ginji thought about it for a moment, then asked, "What kind of stuff does he do?"  
  
Ban answered, "Since Dark Fleet is primarily a smuggling organization, that's mostly what he does -- smuggling goods into different countries. But from what I've heard, he's also involved in spying, stealing, finding traitors in the group, and occassionally assasinating people."  
  
Ginji's eyes widen when Ban said the word 'assasinating'.  
  
"Actually, that's what he became known for", Paul interrupted. "He uses daggers that secrete some kind of muscle relaxant into the cut inflicted on the victim's flesh."  
  
"Yeah", said Ban. "A chemical similar to Flexeril [1] which causes the victim to feel anything from drowsiness to paralysis."  
  
Paul nodded. "But that's not what made him known", he added. "When he kills, he aims for the heart. They say he's so fast and his aim is so precise that the victims don't have time to give any kind of resistance. His crime scenes always leave no signs of struggle."  
  
Ginji's brows furrowed. "He sounds like a very ...", he paused as he searched for the right word. "... ruthless killer." He shivered as he remembered another ruthless killer that uses a different kind of blade to carve the letter 'J' in his victim's bodies.  
  
"I wouldn't exactly say that", Ban said slowly.  
  
Paul and Ginji looked at him, puzzled.  
  
"Well", Ban explained. "He aims for the heart. As soon as the chemical from his dagger comes in contact with it, it becomes numb. The victim doesn't feel anything until it stops beating. He dies a quick and painless death. If there's such a thing as elegance in murder ... " Ban shrugged. "... that must be it."  
  
Ginji stared at Ban. _Elegance in murder?_, he thought. And thought some more. But he still couldn't associate the word 'elegance' with 'murder'.  
  
Paul looked equally perplexed.  
  
Ban chuckled at them, then said, "And that's not all. The head of Dark Fleet is a man codenamed 'Havoc'. They say that the Silver Claw works directly under him." Ban paused. "Wait, let me correct that. The Silver Claw works ONLY for him. Aside from Havoc, nobody knows who the Silver Claw is. Not even the other big bosses in Dark Fleet."  
  
Ginji was silent, mulling over what Ban had just said. Finally he spoke. "I hope we don't run into him, Ban-chan."  
  
"I hope so, too", Ban said. "This is gonna be a difficult job if we do."

* * *

One of the backdoors of a large mansion opened, and a girl dressed in a maid's uniform got out. She was wearing a knee-length black skirt, a black blouse, black stockings, black shoes, and a white apron. She was carrying a mop and a pail and was headed towards what looked like a storage room along the walls of the mansion.  
  
Ban and Ginji were watching her with their night-vision goggles while she walked. They were up in one of the trees in the woods surrounding Karekawa's large mansion, having jumped over the back wall about two hours ago. They've been watching the movements in the house, waiting for the right time to strike.  
  
During their two hours of observation, they confirmed the information given to them by their clients about the security of the place. They saw the rotating camera mounted near the backdoor, the guards and maids that come in and out of the said door, and the two roaming guards that would occasionally appear. If their information was correct, most people in the house would be asleep in just a little while, which is when they were planning to go in. Their plan was to take care of the control room first, where the mansion's security personnel are monitoring the cameras. This would give them more time to do their thing before getting noticed.  
  
After about half an hour of almost no movement in the house, Ban decided that it was time. He nudged Ginji, who was sitting on the branch next to him and nodded. Ginji nodded back in understanding, then put the goggles inside his backpack. They jumped from the tree, landing silently on the grass.  
  
When the camera turned to the side opposite where they were, Ginji ran toward it and leaped. He hung on the camera for a few seconds, sending volts of electricity until it short-circuited.  
  
Breaking into the house was not difficult for the retrieval duo, since they had done it several times in the past. They reached the control room without incident. Five seconds later, they left the room with the two guards inside sleeping soundly.  
  
According to their information, the sword should be in one of Karekawa's three display rooms on the second floor. One of the storage ooms in the house had doors leading to the display rooms. The next part of their plan was to get to the storage room, and search for the sword from there.  
  
Ban navigated the long corridors, with Ginji frying two more security cameras along the way. But as focused as they were to get to their target, it was hard not to notice the sheer opulence of the place -- from the chandeliers, to the paintings on the wall, to the Victorian-style furniture, to the thick carpet on the floor (which was a good thing because it muffled the retrievers' footsteps).  
  
When they reached the second floor, they found a long hallway exactly as their map had indicated. _Wataki's informants are really good_, Ban thought.  
  
As they made their way carefully through the hallway, one of the doors opened and a guard walked out. Before he had a chance to react, Ban clamped his hand over the guard's mouth, and pressed the guard's medulla oblongata [2], which sent the guard to the floor.  
  
A few doors away, they found the storage room. Ban slowly opened the door, and cautiously peered inside. His eyes widened, then he quickly stepped back, his back to the wall. Ginji gave him a questioning look.  
  
"There's somebody in there", Ban whispered.  
  
Ginji tensed up, small sparks of electricity visible on his body. Ban held his hand up and shook his head.  
  
In reply to Ginji's confused look, he pointed to the door with his thumb and whispered again, "Check it out."  
  
Curious as to who could possibly be 'in there', Ginji carefully peered into the room. What he saw made him gasp.  
  
There was a maid inside, bound and gagged. She was sitting on the floor at the far side of the room with her knees up to her chest. Her head was leaning on the wall, and her eyes were closed.  
  
With concern in his eyes, Ginji whispered, "Is she still alive?"  
  
The maid seemed to have heard Ginji. She jerked her head with a gasp, startled.  
  
"Yeah, she's still alive", Ban whispered back.  
  
Ginji gave Ban a look that said 'duh', then stepped through the door. The maid watched him as he made his way to her, her eyes wide with fright. Ban followed from behind.  
  
When Ginji got to her, he whispered, "Hey, don't be scared. We're not gonna hurt you."  
  
"Mmmmnhh", she said, or rather, tried to say through the duct tape on her mouth.  
  
She winced a little as Ginji carefully removed the duct tape. As soon as her mouth was free, he asked her, "What happened here?" He then reached behind her to untie the ropes around her wrists.  
  
The maid hesitated. "I, uh ... ", she stammered. "I made a mistake, so Karekawa-sama ... punished me." She looked like she was in the brink of bursting into tears.  
  
"What?!", Ginji said.  
  
"Quiet, Ginji," Ban said as he frowned. Karekawa was a businessman known for his ruthlessness and sometimes less than legit affairs. It shouldn't be a shock to know how de dealt with what he perceived as incompetence. He knelt in front of the girl and began untying the ropes around her ankles.  
  
"Who are you?", she asked, her eyes wide.  
  
Ginji smiled at her. "We're the Get Backers", he said. "I'm Amano Ginji, and my partner here is Mido Ban. What's your name?"  
  
She stared at Ginji for a while, then answered, "Iarra. My name's Iarra." She paused for a moment then said, "Umm ... Are you friends of Karekawa-sama?"  
  
Ban replied, "No. We're here to retrieve a stolen sword that your master is in possession of."  
  
"A sword?", she asked.  
  
"Yep", Ginji answered with a grin. "It's called the Mizuki Machinka."  
  
"You mean Mikazuki Munechika", Ban corrected.  
  
"That's what I said."  
  
"No, you said Mizuki Machinka."  
  
"Same thing."  
  
"No, it's not", Ban said, a little irritated. He was about to say something else when he stopped himself, and took a deep breath. "Never mind. Let's just go search the display rooms."  
  
Ban stood up and offered a hand to Iarra, who looked like she didn't know what to make of the two men before her. But she let them help her stand up. She was about Himiko's height, with two long black pigtails trailing down in front of her shoulders. Ban guessed that she was probably eighteen years old.  
  
He looked around and found the three doors leading to the display rooms. "We just have to pick a door."  
  
"Ummm... Did you say you were looking for a sword?", Iarra asked.  
  
Ban looked at her. "Yeah, why?"  
  
"The swords are in that room", she said, pointing to one of the doors.  
  
Ban and Ginji looked at each other. Finally, Ban shrugged. "I guess we should take that one", he said as he walked over to the door.

* * *

One of the roaming guards stared up at the smoke coming out of the camera by the back door of the mansion. He unhooked his communicator and spoke into it. 

"Control, this is Akita. I think Camera 4 has short-circuited." He paused, waiting for a reply. When none came, he spoke again. "Control, is everything alright?"  
  
The only sound coming from the communicator was static. The guard frowned. "Nimoto", he said.  
  
"Hai", said a voice from the communicator.  
  
"Go check out the control room. I think something's wrong."

* * *

Ginji fried the security camera at the display room. Iarra, who had followed the Get Backers as they went in, looked at him in amazement.  
  
Ginji grinned at her. "I can generate electricity", he said.  
  
"Wow. Really?", Iarra said, still in awe.  
  
"Yep! Like an electric eel!"  
  
"Ginji", Ban interrupted. "How about if we put off the getting-to-know-you hoopla AFTER we get the sword?"  
  
"Sorry", Ginji answered. He took a look around. "Woooow. This Karekawa guy is REALLY rich."  
  
The display room that they were in seemed to have an Asian theme. There were several rows of display cases. One row contained porcelain cups, vases, and plates from the Ming dynasty. Other rows contained golden Buddha statues as well as sculpted figures of Brahma [3].  
  
"Heh", Ban said. "Don't be so impressed, Ginji. A lot of the stuff here are stolen."  
  
"Eh?", Ginji sweatdropped. "How'd he get all these?"  
  
"You don't wanna know how, Ginji. Trust me."  
  
Iarra, who was following behind, pointed at one of the rows of display cases along one of the walls of the room. "That's the sword collection", she said.  
  
The Get Backers looked at where she was pointing. Ginji smiled at her and said, "Thanks, Iarra-chan".  
  
Iarra smiled back. She watched them as they made their way through the aisles between the display cases towards the wall to start looking for the Mikazuki Munechika.  
  
"Ban-chan", Ginji said softly.  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"If the things here are stolen, shouldn't we get them back?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
Ban sighed. "First of all, we can't possibly carry all these stuff", he said. "And second of all, we didn't come here for them, Ginji. We were hired to get the Mikazuki Munechika and nothing else."  
  
"Oh, right", Ginji said, a bit of sadness evident in his voice.  
  
After a few moments of searching, Ban's heart almost stopped. There it is, he thought. "Ginji, get over here." As Ginji made his way over to him, he looked around the display case for any security device that might trigger an alarm. The moment he saw one, he pointed it to Ginji. "Go fry that one."  
  
Ginji did as he was told. As soon as Ban was sure that it was safe, he plunged his hand into the glass case and picked up the sword.

* * *

Nimoto, the security guard, opened the door to the control room. He saw his two fellow guards unconscious on the floor and gasped.  
  
He held up his communicator and said, "Akita, security's been breached."

* * *

With the sword in Ginji's backpack, Ban and Ginji walked quickly back the way they came from, with Iarra following closely behind. They passed the unconscious guard who was unfortunate enough to meet the Get Backers earlier. Just as they reached the end of the hallway, they froze.  
  
Three guards were on their way up the stairs. The first guard spotted them and yelled, "Stop right there!"  
  
The Get Backers didn't usually follow orders from guards, and this was no exception. They both charged at the guards, who soon became victims of 200 kilograms of pressure and 100,000 volts of electricity.  
  
The ruckus attracted the attention of more guards downstairs. One of the guards fired at Ban. But Ban ducked just in time, letting the bullet hit the wall behind him.  
  
"Run!", he yelled.  
  
Iarra ran back into the hallway, with Ginji and Ban at her heels. The end of the hallway branches to the right, where she turned just as a bullet sailed over the Get Backers' heads.  
  
Iarra opened one of the doors along the hallway and got in. The two retrieval agents followed her. As soon as Ban and Ginji are inside, she locked the door.  
  
"Like THAT'S gonna help", Ban muttered.  
  
The room they entered seemed to be one of the guest rooms. Ban ran to the big glass window and pulled the curtains. Ginji broke the glass and motioned for Iarra to follow them. Then the two retrievers quickly jumped out of the window.  
  
Iarra ran to the window and looked down. She saw Ban and Ginji holding the curtain to be used as a makeshift trampoline. She hesitated.  
  
"Jump, Iarra-chan!", Ginji said encouragingly. "We won't let you fall!"  
  
She gasped as somebody shot at the door. Mustering up her courage, she took a deep breath and jumped down. Once she was down on the ground, the three of them began to run as quickly as they could towards the woods.  
  
The guards were successful in opening the door. They burst in and ran to the broken window. When they saw the running trio on the ground, one of the guards fired a futile shot at them, while another held up his communicator and said, "They're heading straight to the woods. Don't let them get away."

* * *

In the woods, Ban, Ginji, and Iarra were still running when a group of guards appeared right in front of them, causing them to stop. The guards were holding semiautomatic rifles, which were currently being pointed at them.  
  
_Six guards_, Ban thought. He smirked. _Piece of cake._ Without taking his eyes off the guards, he whispered to Iarra, "As soon as we make our move, go hide behind those trees."  
  
Iarra nodded. Ban looked at his partner, who seemed to be waiting for his signal. He turned his attention back to the guards and whispered, "Now." He charged, aiming at the shoulder of the nearest guard, and yelled, "Snakebite!"  
  
The unfortunate guard dropped his rifle and fell on his knees, clutching at his "bitten" shoulder. With a quick slap on the head courtesy of Ban, he fell facedown on the ground.  
  
Ginji had deflected the bullets flying towards him with his electromagnetic field. He ran to his attackers, grabbed two of the rifles, and sent volts of electricity. When the two guards fell at his feet, he turned to fry another one.  
  
Ban grabbed the face of another guard and hurled him towards one of the trees. As he watched the human projectile, he noticed the farthest guard aiming at Iarra, as she was running towards the trees. He cursed.  
  
The guard fired. It was a clean shot to the head. To Ban's amazement, Iarra quickly ducked, causing the bullet to miss. Ban charged towards the guard and knocked him down.  
  
After making sure that all guards have been taken care of, he walked over to Iarra. "You okay?", he asked.  
  
She seemed shaken, but she nodded her head.  
  
"Well, we better go", he said. "There might be more guards in this area."

* * *

After a few minutes of running, they finally reached the back wall. Ban leaped and landed on top of the wall. While Iarra was looking up at him in awe, Ginji took her in his arms and carried her as he leaped after Ban. Then the retrieval duo jumped down to the other side of the wall.  
  
They continued running towards the direction where the Ladybug was parked, with Ban and Ginji in the lead, and Iarra behind them. Once they were sure that they had lost their pursuers, they slowed down and tried to catch their breaths.  
  
Ginji grinned, "We got the Mizuki Machinka back!"  
  
Ban, too happy to correct him, said, "Yep, that's right! Two million yen, here we come!"  
  
"Yey! Two million yen! Ban-chan, I want a sushi platter!"  
  
"Let's both have one!"  
  
"And some steak!"  
  
"Yeah! Steak! I haven't eaten one in a long time."  
  
While the retrieval agents were busy discussing what they wanted to with their two million yen, something suddenly hit their legs that caused them to drop to their knees.  
  
"What the...??!", Ban said. The world was starting to spin. He looked down and saw a dagger sticking out of his right leg. "Damn" was his last thought before he fell facedown on the ground.  
  
Ginji gasped when he saw his partner fall. He saw the dagger in his leg, pulled it out, and threw it on the ground. He tried to get up, but his body isn't responding. Oh no, he thought. Then he suddenly remembered the girl who was with them.  
  
"Iarra-chan?", he called out. He looked around, but she was nowhere to be found. Somebody must have grabbed her, he thought as his vision blurred. "We're sorry, Iarra-chan", he said before everything turned black.

* * *

Notes: Thanks to Wah-Keetcha, limelie, and bffimagine. I really appreciate your feedback =) Hope you liked this one!  
  
[1] Flexeril, or cyclobenzaprine, is used to relieve muscle spasm. Overdosage of this can result in drowsiness, agitation, slurred speech, nausea, cardiac arrest, and a lot of other nasty stuff.  
  
[2] According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the medulla oblongata is "the part of the vertebrate brain that is continuous posteriorly with the spinal cord and that contains the centers controlling involuntary vital functions." Nope, I'm not an anatomy expert. It was mentioned in the GB manga, and I just thought to look it up. Who says you can't learn anything from reading mangas? =)  
  
[3] Brahma is considered as the creator in Hinduism. 


	3. The Dragon Invasion

Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I still don't own GB.

Notes: It just occurred to me that this fic is supposed to be in the Action/Adventure category, so I've changed that :-)

* * *

Ban slowly gained consciousness. His head ached. A LOT. As he stirred, he could feel the thin mattress pressing against his back. He was not in his car, he was sure of that. He opened his eyes. A flourescent light was on the ceiling. He looked around and saw that he was in a small room with walls that looked like metal. The door also seemed to be made of metal. A camera was up at one of the corners of the room. He couldn't see any windows, holes, or other openings of any sort, which made him feel like he was inside a metal box. Good thing he wasn't claustrophobic.  
  
He tried to get up, but a sharp pain on his right leg made him groan and drop back on the cot. He pulled his pant leg up to check his leg and saw that it was wrapped in bandages.  
  
_What the heck happened?_, he thought.  
  
He remembered going into the Karekawa mansion with Ginji. And he remembered going out of the mansion with Ginji, having successfully retrieved their target. They were successful in their mission, right? So what was he doing in this place?  
  
Wait a minute. He didn't leave the mansion with just Ginji. There was another person. A girl. What was her name, again? Oh yes, Iarra. He and Ginji found her bound and gagged inside the storage room and they rescued her. He remembered being chased by Karekawa's guards. He remembered encountering the guards in the woods, where he and Ginji easily took care of them.  
  
He also remembered a guard firing at Iarra's head, and Iarra easily ducking to avoid being hit. His eyes narrowed. Pretty quick reflexes for a maid, huh? He should've known. Her appearance was too convenient, and she seemed to be too eager to help. He shook his head at himself, which made the world spin. He groaned.  
  
"Ginji, where the hell are you??"

* * *

Ginji woke up with a start. "Ban-chan?"  
  
The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was the flourescent light on the ceiling. He blinked.  
  
_Where am I?_, he thought.  
  
He was in a small metal room, the only piece of furniture being the cot that he was lying on, and a camera at the corner. His head was throbbing with pain. He tried to get up, but couldn't.  
  
His leg was still a little numb. He glanced at it and noticed that it was bandaged. He remembered pulling a dagger out of it, then he remembered the events that happened before being attacked.  
  
His eyes widened. "Iarra-chan." She disappeared just before he and his partner got hit by the daggers.  
  
Daggers. Ban-chan said that the Silver Claw used daggers. Did this mean that the Silver Claw was the one who attacked them? Maybe. But he didn't want to think about it right then. His head hurt REALLY bad.  
  
"Ban-chan, Iarra-chan, where are you?", he wailed.

* * *

_I have to get out of here_, Ban thought. Wherever 'here' is. He guessed that he was probably in one of Dark Fleet's headquarters.  
  
This whole thing did not make sense to him. Dark Fleet already had the Mikazuki Munechika. What did they want with him and Ginji?  
  
Well, he didn't want to wait to find out. As soon as his drowsiness subsided and he felt he could move without the world spinning around him, he got to work.  
  
He hit the door with all his might, but succeeded only in making a small dent.  
  
_Damn_, he thought. _Time for Plan B._  
  
He turned to the camera, leaped at it, and pulled it out of its cradle.

* * *

A guard was watching the screen monitoring Ban's room when he saw Ban hit the door, then leap at the screen. The screen went blank. He stared at it for a few moments, then reached over and spoke into a communicator.  
  
"M-01 to 27th squad. There's a problem with the prisoner."

* * *

Three guards slowly opened the metal door to Ban's room. They saw that Ban's bed was empty. One of the guards cautiously walked in. Just as he stepped inside, the door suddenly moved and hit him hard, bringing him down on the floor.  
  
Before the stunned guards had a chance to move, Ban quickly appeared from behind the door and banged the guards' heads together. They both dropped down with a thud.  
  
Ban looked out of the door and saw that he was in a long corridor. He turned left and started running. The corridor had several doors on both sides. He had no idea where he was and how to get out, but he had decided to play it by instinct, and hoped to find Ginji along the way. He knew it was a long shot, but he felt better trying to escape than waiting around for whatever Dark Fleet had in store for him.  
  
Up ahead, the corridor was at a dead end. Ban opened the next door to his right and entered. He surveyed the room while trying to catch his breath. The room had a long black table in the middle, and round black chairs surrounding it. It was probably a meeting room of some sort, Ban thought. He noticed another door at the far end of the room. He started to walk toward it, when it opened and four men wearing business suits entered.  
  
They stopped walking and stared at Ban. Ban charged at them. After a few seconds, all four men were down at the floor.  
  
_Yep, this is so much better than waiting around in that damn metal box_, Ban thought.  
  
He took a deep breath and tried to steady himself. He still felt a little groggy, and that only worsened his mood. The sooner he got out of this place, the better. He entered the door where the men came from and continued running.  
  
As he ran, he passed through several more rooms and corridors. Along the way, he also encountered some more people, which he easily took care of.  
  
Ban entered another door, and stopped. This room looked different from the others. It looked like a small warehouse, with boxes stacked up on the sides of the room. There was no ceiling, so he could see the beams supporting the relatively high roof. He saw a door at one side of the room.  
  
_If that door leads to another corridor or another room, I'm gonna break through the roof_, Ban thought, since he figured it would be easier to see where he was up at the roof.  
  
He ran to the door. As he was about to open it, a dagger flew by his ear and hit the door.  
  
"Where do you think you're going?"  
  
Ban smirked. "Well, well, well", he said. "If it isn't the Drama Queen herself."  
  
He turned to the sound of the voice. He saw Iarra up at one of the beams of the warehouse, sitting on it with her ankles crossed. She was wearing a black skintight jumpsuit with knee-high boots. Instead of pigtails, her hair was up in a bun.  
  
The dagger was a giveaway. If he wasn't sure before whether Iarra was the Silver Claw, well, he was sure now. "I gotta hand it to you", Ban continued. "That Academy Award-winning performance had me fooled."  
  
"Oh, sorry about that", Iarra said. She shrugged, almost apologetically. "It's part of the job."  
  
Ban chuckled. "You know, I never really expected the Silver Claw would be a girl."  
  
Iarra stared at Ban, then laughed. Her laughter was not condescending or anything like that. She was laughing like she really found something funny. Ban looked at her with a confused expression on his face.  
  
When her laughter subsided, Iarra said with an amused smile, "You think I'm the Silver Claw?" She laughed again. "What makes you think that? Is it 'cause I use daggers?"  
  
Ban continued to look at her, not sure where she was going with this.  
  
"Well", she said, still smiling. "So does a hundred other Dark Fleet agents."  
  
Ban raised his eyebrows. "Really."  
  
"Yes. Really. But you don't have to believe me if you don't want to."  
  
"Right. I don't. Forgive me if I find it hard to believe anything you say."  
  
Iarra just smiled.  
  
"You know", Ban said. "I'd love to stay and chat, Dagger Babe, but I gotta go."  
  
He turned to the door. Another dagger flew by Ban's head and landed next to the one already at the door.  
  
"I don't think so", Iarra said. "I don't want to fight you, Mido. But I guess asking you to come with me won't do the trick."  
  
Ban turned back to her and grinned. "Well, I don't want to fight me, either."  
  
"Fine. You're asking for it." Iarra jumped from the beam and did a front flip. She landed on one knee. She reached out, and the two daggers at the door flew into her hands.  
  
_Ohh-kay_, Ban thought. _How the hell did she do that?_  
  
As she caught the daggers, she turned her position into a battle stance.  
  
"Get ready, Mido."

* * *

Ginji's headache had subsided. As he lay on the cot, he could feel the charges tingling through the metal walls surrounding him. He smiled inwardly. Remembering the camera aimed at him, he pretended to sleep as he let his fingers touch the wall next to him. Careful not to create sparks, he started to absorb the electricity pulsating through the walls. Little by little, he felt his energy level go up. Even the wound on his leg was starting to heal rapidly.  
  
Once he felt that he was fully charged up, he opened his eyes and grinned. He stood up, walked to the metal door, and held the handle. He absorbed the electrical currents from the walls, and mustering up all his energy, hit the door with a bright flash of lightning.  
  
An explosion erupted, and the lights in one section of the building went out.

* * *

Iarra and Ban eyed each other, each waiting for the other to attack first.  
  
After a long moment, Ban said, "Are you just gonna stare me to death or something?"  
  
Iarra said nothing.  
  
Ban was starting to get impatient. He REALLY wanted to get out of this place. Fine, if she didn't want to make the first move, then he would.  
  
He charged at her, aiming at her shoulder. She dodged easily, leaping into the air. While doing a somersault, she threw her daggers at him. Ban turned to avoid them just in time, and they flew back into her hands.  
  
They heard an explosion in the distance. The lights flickered. Ban saw Iarra glance at the lights, then grinned.  
  
Iarra, seeing Ban's grin, said, "Guess your partner's getting busy, huh?"  
  
Ban answered, "Guess so. Time for me to get busy as well."  
  
Using his full speed, he charged. Surprisingly, he only managed to grab a chunk of her suit. As she flipped, she hurled a dagger at him. He dodged, but he felt the dagger graze his cheek.  
  
Iarra saw the translucent image of a serpent when Ban attacked. _What the hell was that??_, she thought, frowning at him.  
  
They stood in fighting stances looking at each other, panting. There was now a hole in Iarra's jumpsuit by the left side of her waist. She reached out, and the dagger flew back to her hand.  
  
Ban brushed the blood trickling down his cheek with his finger. _Damn_, he thought. _This is more difficult than I thought._  
  
He cursed. His head still ached. In his full form, he knew he could beat her easily. But he was NOT in his full form. It looked like he was going to have to use his Jagan.  
  
She threw her two daggers at him, then knelt down and took two more that were hidden inside her boot tops. She threw those at him, too. She reached out and into her hands flew two of the daggers, which she threw at Ban. She continued throwing daggers two at at time. Ban leaped and dodged them, but some of them were able to graze his arms and legs.  
  
He charged again, alert for any opening to use the Jagan. But none came. She always avoided his eyes. _Dammit_, he thought as another dagger grazed his neck. She probably knew about the Jagan.  
  
They continued to fight, with Ban getting a few more grazes, and Iarra getting a few more holes in her suit. After an exchange of attacks, Ban landed on one side of the room, eyes narrowed to slits at her. Iarra was down on one knee at the opposite side of the room, with daggers at her hands, ready to attack.  
  
Just then, they heard another explosion. An alarm sounded, then another explosion. This time, it sounded nearer. Iarra froze, her eyes wide. Ban watched her, not quite sure what was going on. Then they heard several gunshots outside their room.  
  
"Shit", Iarra muttered.  
  
She flipped her daggers and put them back in her boots. She ran towards the side of the room where Ban was. Ban tensed up, ready to block any attack she would make. But she ran past him and pulled a lever by the wall. A part of the wall opened up, and an access panel appeared. She pushed some buttons, closed the panel, then ran to a corner of the room. To Ban's surprise, a part of the floor began to open up, until a manhole-like opening appeared.  
  
"Jump in!", Iarra shouted.  
  
"What??"  
  
The gunshots were now just outside the room.  
  
"Do it!"  
  
Ban ran over to the hole and looked down. It was pitch black inside. Bullets were now flying through the walls of the room.  
  
"NOW!!", Iarra yelled.  
  
Ban jumped.  
  
It wasn't a long way down. He soon landed on what seemed like concrete. Iarra jumped in right after Ban did. She landed on him, sending him face down on the floor.  
  
"Owww!!", Ban yelled.  
  
"Why didn't you move out of the way??"  
  
The hole above them closed. With the only source of light gone, the room was once again pitch black.  
  
In the darkness, Ban's voice came up. "Do you plan on sitting on me all day?"  
  
"Oh, sorry." It was Iarra's voice this time.  
  
Ban felt her stand up and walk towards his right side. He stood up just as a switch flicked and the lights turned on. They were in some kind of underground supply room. It was small, with shelves filled with boxes lining up the walls.  
  
More explosions could be heard above them, and the lights shook with each explosion. Iarra was now talking rapidly through an intercom in a language that Ban couldn't understand. She glanced at Ban every now and then, probably to make sure he wasn't trying anything funny. Ban watched her as she talked, and he noticed small black round objects that looked like beads in her hair.  
  
She finished talking and turned to Ban. Without warning, Ban suddenly lunged himself at her. She rolled to the side, instintively reaching down her boots for her daggers, but her hands came up empty. She glanced at her boots and gasped when she saw that her daggers were gone.  
  
_How the hell did he do that?_, she wondered alarmingly.  
  
Ban charged again. Iarra ducked to the side and kicked him on the knee. With a quick turn, she gave him a hard kick to the head. Ban flew to the side of the room and hit one of the shelves. The shelf fell over him and buried him with its contents.  
  
After a few seconds, Ban emerged from the boxes and with great speed, lunged at Iarra and held her by the neck against the wall.  
  
_Damn_, Iarra thought. _Where does this guy get his strength? He's supposed to be groggy right now._ She struggled to get out of his grip.  
  
"Give it up", Ban said. "You can't get out of my snakebite. One squeeze and it's all gonna be over."  
  
Iarra glared at Ban. An explosion sounded again. Then with one quick move, she hit his solar plexus (1) with her knee. As Ban doubled over in pain, she brought her elbow up and hit him on the side of his head. He dropped down on his knees. Then with a sweep of his leg, he hit her ankles. She gasped as she hit her back on the floor. All of a sudden, metal clasps appeared around her wrists and ankles, pinning her down.  
  
_What the...???_, Iarra thought.  
  
She turned to where Ban was, but he disappeared. She struggled with the clasps around her wrists, but to no avail. _What the hell is going on??_  
  
Just then, a dagger dropped from above and landed inches from her face. She looked up and gasped. The ceiling was filled with hanging daggers, like stalactites in a cave. The daggers shook with every explosion that could be heard from above. Another explosion sounded, and a dagger fell and hit her leg. She uttered a sharp cry of pain. As more explosions sounded, more and more daggers fell. She closed her eyes and screamed.  
  
"Just one minute."  
  
Like glass shattering into a million pieces, the image of the falling daggers was replaced by Ban looking down at her with a smirk.  
  
"Did you have a nice dream?"  
  
Ban watched in amusement as Iarra's eyes displayed a range of emotions: from terror, to confusion, to realization, and finally, to rage.  
  
During the one minute of hallucination, he had tied her wrists and ankles with the wires that he found in the supply room. He also took the daggers from her boots (he found two on each boot), and placed them inside a small pouch that he saw on one of the shelves. And as a final touch, he covered her mouth with duct tape. He didn't have enough time to give her his trademark lighter-flicking cigarette pose during the one minute that he tied her up and took her weapons, since he was still a little light-headed and couldn't move as fast as he normally could. Well, Iarra didn't need to know about that.  
  
"I'm getting a sense of déjà vu", he said as he smiled smugly. "Oh right. That's 'cause this had happened before. Except this time, I'm not untying you, Dagger Babe."  
  
Iarra looked at him with fierce, piercing eyes.  
  
Ban took out his pack of cigarettes. "I'm gonna be asking you a few questions, if you don't mind", he said. "Hope you'll behave and be a good girl."  
  
As he knelt down in front of her, they could hear more explosions and gunshots. "First of all, what's going on up there?" He gave a quick pull to the duct tape on her mouth, leaving one edge still sticking to her cheek.  
  
She winced at the pain from the duct tape, glared at him, then said, "What the hell are you doing?! You can't smoke in here, you moron! Are you trying to get us both killed?!"  
  
Ban quickly put the duct tape back on her mouth, cutting her off. He shook his head at her. "Wrong answer. That wasn't what I asked, sweetheart."  
  
_What did she mean about not smoking?_, Ban wondered. He looked at her glaring at him, then smiled mischeviously. He tapped his pack of cigarettes, then took one stick with his mouth. He watched her expression as he slowly got out his lighter, and flicked it open.  
  
Iarra's eyes widened. With one quick move, she brought her feet up and kicked at the lighter at Ban's hand. The lighter bounced toward the wall.  
  
"Whoa!", Ban said as he frowned at her. _Guess she can still kick ass even when tied up_, he thought. Aloud, he said, "I didn't know you detest smoking that much."  
  
"Mmmmnnnhhhhh", Iarra tried to say.  
  
He picked the lighter up, and walked back to her. He removed the duct tape with one forceful pull. "What was that?", he asked her.  
  
"Ouch!", Iarra uttered as she winced in pain. "Can't you be a little more careful?!"  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry", Ban said sarcastically. "But don't worry. I'm sure it doesn't hurt as much as being STABBED ON THE LEG."  
  
Iarra stretched her lips to abate the pain, then glared at Ban.  
  
"Look behind you", she said.  
  
Ban turned his head and saw a row of large cans at the bottom of one of the shelves.  
  
"That's turpentine (2)", Iarra told him. "It's a Class IC liquid. Highly flammable."  
  
"Oh. Well, I know that", Ban said, obviously lying. "Just wanted to see how you would react."  
  
Iarra rolled her eyes.  
  
He put the cigarette back in his pack, put the pack back into his pocket, then turned to her. "So, I'm gonna ask you again. What's going on up there?"  
  
She sighed. "We're being invaded."  
  
"By whom?", Ban asked, puzzled.  
  
She looked up at him with a seriousness in her eyes. "Dark Fleet has two major enemies: the police, and the Burning Dragons." She noticed a sign of recognition cross Ban's expression. "You've heard of them."  
  
"Chinese smugglers, right?", Ban said with a smirk.  
  
Iarra smiled.  
  
"I thought you guys worked with them from time to time", Ban said.  
  
"We used to. But our relationship with the Dragons recently ... turned sour", she answered. They heard another explosion, and Iarra looked up. "That can't be the police. They're usually a lot more subtle than that."  
  
Ban followed her gaze. "So that means..."  
  
"Yep. Those are the Dragons up there", Iarra said.  
  
Ban thought about it for a moment, then turned to her. "I have another question."  
  
She looked at him expectantly.  
  
"Where's Ginji?"  
  
"Assuming you didn't give me the eye until AFTER I talked with my contact," she said, looking at the intercom, then back at Ban. "Meaning, I didn't dream up that whole conversation that I had..."  
  
"You didn't."  
  
She smiled, then said, "Your friend escaped. I honestly have no idea where he is now. If he's got any brains, he should save his ass and get out of here."  
  
Ban looked at her for a moment, trying to decide what to do. His instincts told him that she was telling the truth. If she was, that means he couldn't go back up the way they came from. The place would probably be swarming with trigger-happy Dragons. He looked around the room and noticed a small back door.  
  
"Where does that lead to?", Ban asked Iarra.  
  
"Dark Fleet has an intricate network of bomb-proof underground tunnels. This room is part of it, and that door leads to the rest of it."  
  
"Underground tunnel, huh?", Ban said as he walked towards it.  
  
"Hey, wait a minute", Iarra called out. "You're not gonna leave me here, are you?"  
  
Ban looked at her incredulously.  
  
"The tunnel is a shelter for Dark Fleet members. It's a burial ground for those who are not", Iarra said.  
  
"What do you mean by that?"  
  
"This place is loaded with booby traps. You're not gonna get far without me."  
  
Ban just stared at her, then snorted. "Heh. You're bluffing. There's no way I'm taking you with me."  
  
He started to walk towards the door, when he stopped and turned back to her. "By the way, thanks for these." He grinned as he held up the pouch carrying Iarra's daggers. "They might come in handy." He placed the pouch in his back pocket and continued walking to the door.  
  
Iarra watched him with a scowl as he reached the door. "Fine. Suit yourself."  
  
As Ban opened the door, Iarra called out to him, "Mido!"  
  
He stopped and looked at her. "What?"  
  
"Look out for thorns."  
  
"What??", he asked, a little baffled.  
  
She smiled sweetly at him. "Don't say I didn't warn you."  
  
Ban stared at her for a moment, then smirked. "Whatever." He opened the door and stepped out.  
  
Iarra watched him go, then started counting seconds in her head. When she got to twenty, she listened. But all she heard were the explosions above her and some gunshots.  
  
_Looks like I underestimated him_, she thought. Just then, she heard a yelp from outside the door. She smiled. _Or not._  
  
After a few seconds, the door burst open and Ban stomped in. Iarra took one look at Ban, then grinned. "Had fun?"  
  
His hair was disheveled, with thorns sticking out among the spikes. Aside from the grazes that he got from his earlier fight with Iarra, his face, neck, and arms were covered with scratches. He stomped over to Iarra in chibi mode and screamed at her, "What kind of HELL is this place???!!!"  
  
"Hey, I warned you, didn't I?", Iarra said with a grin.  
  
Ban glared at her, then said through gritted teeth, "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"  
  
Iarra pretended to be shocked. "Of course not!", she said. She looked at him from head to toe, then grinned. "Okay, a little." Then she burst out laughing.  
  
Ban pointed a finger at her. "YOU need therapy."  
  
Iarra raised her eyebrows. "I warned you, and you didn't listen. It's your own damn fault."  
  
Ban glared at her. Iarra glared back. Finally, Ban sighed.  
  
"So," he said without looking at her. "You know every inch of this 'network of underground tunnels'?"  
  
"Nobody knows every inch of this 'network of underground tunnels'", Iarra answered, mimicking his tone.  
  
Ban turned to her, puzzled. "So how the hell do you guys navigate through this place?"  
  
"We have markers. There are markers all over indicating where a tunnel is headed and what booby traps to expect. All Dark Fleet agents should know how to read them."  
  
Ban looked at her with doubt, still not quite sure whether to believe her. "So how did you know about those damn thorns?"  
  
Iarra chuckled. "Oh yes, the thorns", she said. "See those markings at the door?"  
  
Ban looked at the door and saw some squiggles, which he didn't take notice of before. "What about them?"  
  
"Those markings say 'thorns', '10 meters', and 'chances of survival are very high', meaning they're non-fatal", Iarra answered.  
  
Ban looked at her thoughtfully. "So... you're an expert at reading those markers?"  
  
She smiled sheepishly. "I wouldn't exactly say that I'm an EXPERT. It's been a while", she said. "But your chances of survival are way higher if I'm with you", she quickly added when she saw Ban glare at her.  
  
"And you want to help me because...?"  
  
"We're being invaded. I want to get out of here just as much as you do. I can't be of much help when I'm down here."  
  
Ban said nothing for a few minutes, thinking.  
  
"Well?", Iarra said, breaking the silence. "Aren't you going to untie me now?"  
  
Ban just looked at her.  
  
"It's a long way out", Iarra said. "You can't possibly carry me all the way through."  
  
"I am seriously considering that option."  
  
"Aww, that's so sweet," she said sarcastically. "But aside from the fact that I'd REALLY rather walk, it's just gonna slow us down. Why don't you do us both a favor, and untie me right now?"  
  
"Gee, I don't know", Ban said. "Maybe it's because a few minutes ago..." He turned to chibi mode with an oversized head. "YOU WERE TRYING TO KILL ME!"  
  
Iarra winced at the level of decibels that passed through her ears. Then she looked at him and said softly, "I wasn't trying to kill you, Mido. If I were, you would've been dead by now."  
  
Ban stared at her. He had heard a million threats before, all said to intimidate him. But the way Iarra said it... it wasn't intended to intimidate. She sounded like she was just stating a simple fact. Which is ironic, because it sounded more intimidating than all those other threats combined.  
  
"Well, I don't know about you", he finally said. "But when people start hurling daggers at me, I tend to think that they're out to kill me."  
  
"You were trying to escape."  
  
"Well, I've got news for you, sweetheart. I'm STILL trying to escape."  
  
She chuckled. She thought for a minute, then told him, "Let's make a deal."  
  
"I'm all ears."  
  
"How about if we settle our unfinished business AFTER we get out of here?"  
  
Ban looked at her, then said, "What's in it for you, anyway?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"You don't need me to get out of here. For all I know, you could just leave me to die on one of those traps."  
  
She rolled her eyes and muttered, "Paranoid freak." She turned her eyes to him. "Well, if it's any reassurance, I have orders to keep you alive."  
  
Ban stared at her, a little surprised. Then he smiled lopsidedly. "Well, I'm not gonna argue with that, but may I ask why?"  
  
"Can't tell you that."  
  
"Why the hell not?"  
  
Iarra sighed exasperatedly. "You don't NEED to know why, Mido. We're wasting time. Why don't you untie me right now so we can get going?"  
  
"Tell me why first."  
  
"No."  
  
"I'm not gonna untie you until you do."  
  
"Fine. Then I hope you're a very patient guy, 'cause we're gonna be here for a very long time", she said, prolonging the words 'very' and 'long'.  
  
Ban sighed. It didn't look like she had any intentions of telling him any more than she already did, Ban thought. Knowing she was not going to kill him anytime soon was enough for him. For now, anyway. He created a mental note to himself to just ask her again later.  
  
He began to free her ankles and wrists. As he unwound the wires, he noticed a tiny black tattoo on each of her wrists. The symbol looked looked like the lowercase Greek letter Xi. He threw the wires to the side and stood up.  
  
As soon as she was free, Iarra shook her hands to bring circulation back. She stood up, looked up at Ban, and asked, "Can I have my daggers back now?"  
  
"No."  
  
Iarra gave an exasperated sigh, and muttered, "Paranoid." She brought her hand up to his head. He caught her hand and gave her a suspicious look.  
  
She smiled, amused. "Ooh, touchy."  
  
With his eyes narrowed, Ban asked, "What are you doing?"  
  
"Let go of my hand, and you'll find out."  
  
Ban just gave her a hard stare. Without taking her eyes off him, Iarra slowly held her other hand up, and reached for something in Ban's hair. She held it out for him to see. It was a thorn. She threw it on the floor.  
  
"You know", Iarra said, as she continued to pick thorns from his hair. "If we're gonna get through this, you're gonna have to trust me."  
  
Ban let go of her hand, but continued to glare at her.  
  
Then Iarra's eyes turned serious. "Listen to me, Mido", she said. "I want to get out of here as quickly as possible, so I suggest that you stop acting like a pain in the neck from now on and do EXACTLY as I say. Otherwise, both of us could end up dead."  
  
She walked to the door. Ban shook his head as he gritted his teeth and glared at the back of her head. She got to the door, opened it, then turned her head to him.  
  
"Well, are you coming with me or not?", she asked.  
  
Still gritting his teeth, he walked over to the door. "I'm hating this already", he muttered.  
  
Iarra stepped out and without turning her head, she said, "Likewise."

* * *

Notes: Hmmm. My chapters are getting longer and longer. On the next chapter, Ban and Iarra get a taste of the booby traps. Boy, this is gonna be fun! (insert evil maniacal laughter here)  
  
limelie: I neither confirm nor deny your guess about the Silver Claw's identity hehe :-)  
  
whYFeL: Of course things are gonna go wrong hehe :-) I was a little confused by your comment though, about the sequence being "a little-too-neat". I have no idea what you mean, so I apologize if it's still a little-too-neat hehe :-) But thanks for the comment!  
  
drkmagiciangrl123: Thanks, I will!  
  
rabid lola: Did this chapter answer your question? No, I guess not hehe :-) Well, I'm not gonna tell you. Keep reading to find out ;-)  
  
ViL: Thanks!  
  
(1) The solar plexus is a bundle of nerves in the abdominal area that is particularly vulnerable to blows.  
  
(2) Turpentine is used as a solvent for thinning oil-based paints. 


	4. Booby Traps in the Tunnel

Disclaimer: Get Backers is owned by Aoki and Ayamine, not Mayumi-san.  
  
Notes: I don't know about you, but the title of this chapter makes me think of Hevn...

* * *

Ginji held up his hand and sent bursts of electricity to the black-clad guards blocking his way. It had been the third batch of guards that he had encountered ever since he got out of his prison cell. He stepped over the unconscious bodies and ran through the dark corridors.  
  
It was hard to see anything, he thought as he stumbled in the dark. That was, of course, his fault. He had apparently blown up the power generator when he escaped. He hoped Ban-chan took that opportunity to get out of his cell as well. He grinned. Knowing Ban-chan, he probably did, if he hadn't escaped already. _Ban-chan's fine_, he told himself. _If only I could find him._

* * *

Ban felt like he was inside a damp rough cement tube. His spiky hair almost touched the ceiling as he walked with his hands in his pockets. He watched the girl walking in front of him as she scanned the tunnel walls for any of the Dark Fleet markers. The tunnel had small dim light bulbs every few meters or so. Although the light bulbs barely illuminated the tunnel, it helped them to at least see where they were going.  
  
Iarra paused as she looked at the low pile of entangled thorns scattered on the tunnel floor. "Looks like you had quite a struggle", she remarked. She looked up and examined the ceiling for a moment, then turned to Ban, grinning. "Did it hurt when they fell on your head?"  
  
Ban gave her an expressionless look. "Would you like to try it?"  
  
She chuckled. "Nah. I'm not really fond of thorns."  
  
"They're quite fun, actually."  
  
Iarra smirked. "I can imagine."  
  
She took a few steps to the right. Ban observed her as she examined the section of the wall just above the thorns. She waved her hand in front of what seemed like a vertical slit on the wall, and quickly stepped back. A part of the ceiling opened up and more thorns fell. The vertical slit was apparently a sensor.  
  
Ban snorted. "I didn't think there could be more of 'em."  
  
"Oh, that's not even half of it", Iarra said as she looked up at the ceiling.  
  
Ban raised an eyebrow at her, then looked at the pile of thorns, now waist-height, in front of them. The low pile of thorns now turned into a small hill. "So", he said. "How do Dark Fleet agents pass through here without thorns raining on them?"  
  
"Easy", Iarra answered. "Just jump over this pile of thorns real quick." She turned to him and motioned at the thorns with her hand. "Well, wanna give it a shot?"  
  
He looked at her for a long moment, then said, "Riiight. Why don't YOU do it first, then I'll follow?"  
  
"You wouldn't want to go last, believe me."  
  
"Ladies first", Ban said. "I insist."  
  
Iarra sighed and rolled her eyes. She walked towards the center of the hill of thorns. She bent her knees and did a quick front flip over the thorns, landing gracefully on the other side.  
  
More thorns fell from the ceiling. _This is just great_, Ban thought as he stared at the growing pile in front of him. The hill of thorns was now up to his shoulders.  
  
Iarra turned to face Ban and gave him an I-told-you-so look. "Your turn."  
  
Grumbling under his breath, Ban moved a little farther from the hill of thorns. Besides getting higher, the hill's base was also occupying more space, so he needed a lot more momentum than Iarra did to jump over it. He took a deep breath, ran towards the hill, then leaped over it, rolling as he got to the other side. As he expected, more thorns fell, making the hill almost reach the ceiling.  
  
Ban stood up and adjusted his glasses. He glanced behind him and saw that the hill of thorns had now almost reached the ceiling. 

"That's okay", Iarra said. "We're not going back, anyway."

They continued walking, with Iarra in the lead, and Ban following closely behind. After several paces, she stopped. She moved closer to the left wall of the tunnel, and traced her fingers on some markings that were etched on the wall's surface. Ban watched her, then looked around. He noticed small circular holes covering almost the entire ceiling from left to right, and extending farther into the tunnel.  
  
_I wonder what kind of surprises would come out of those_, he mused.  
  
"Sensors", Iarra suddenly said, startling him a little.  
  
Ban cocked his head to her. "Hmm?"  
  
Iarra pointed to the holes in the ceiling and answered, "Those are sensors."  
  
Ban tried to peer into the holes, but saw nothing special about them. "What happens when the sensors detect us?"  
  
Iarra shrugged. "They didn't say." She pressed her back against the wall and started walking sideways, avoiding the sensors as she kept her eyes focused on them.  
  
Ban glared at her, irritated at the lack of information, and more irritated at her apparent nonchalance about it. He watched her walk slowly sideways, with her eyes on the ceiling and her back pressed and slightly bent to follow the contour of the tunnel walls. Ever since his encounter with Iarra back at the warehouse, Ban had been slightly amazed at the way she moved. The elegance in her movements kind of reminded him of Thread Spool. Yes, he thought she was graceful. Just not right now, he thought as he chuckled.  
  
"You look like an idiot", he remarked.  
  
"Better to look like an idiot than end up dead, don't you think?", Iarra said without glancing at him.  
  
Ban snorted then continued to watch. Aside from the amusement that he was getting from watching her, he was also a little curious about what would happen if she lost her balance.  
  
She walked a few more steps, then finally looked at Ban. "Are you just gonna stand there, or are you gonna get your ass on this wall and look like an idiot with me?"  
  
'Graceful' was definitely not the word he would use to describe the things that come out of that pretty mouth. Gritting his teeth, he pressed his back against the wall, and reluctantly imitated her.  
  
"Uhh, Mido?", Iarra said.  
  
"What?"  
  
"That porcupine look may be cute, but try not to trigger the sensors with those spikes, ok?"  
  
Ban shot her a murderous glance, then flattened his hair with one hand and continued to walk sideways, his eyes focusing on the sensors above.  
  
_Now I look more like an idiot than her_, he thought grudgingly.  
  
They walked on deeper into the tunnel in that manner. Ban estimated that they probably had walked like that for about fifty meters. To say that it was very uncomfortable was an understatement. Out of the corner of his eye, he tried to see how much farther they had to go, but the dim lights made it impossible to see beyond Iarra.  
  
Finally, Iarra stepped away from the wall and stretched. Ban looked up to make sure there were no more sensors on the ceiling, then did the same.  
  
Iarra exhaled loudly. "That wasn't so hard, was it?", she said as she smiled at Ban.  
  
Ban said nothing and just gave her a piercing glare.  
  
Iarra chuckled, then started to walk forward. Ban reluctantly followed.  
  
"There's no point in being hostile, Mido", Iarra said as she carefully scrutinized the walls. "I'm the only company you're gonna have for the next few hours or so, whether you like it or not."  
  
Ban stopped walking. "Hours?!?"  
  
Iarra stopped examining the walls and looked at him. "Or so", she repeated.  
  
He scowled.  
  
She turned back to the walls and continued walking. "This could've been worse, you know."  
  
Ban raised an eyebrow, then followed her. "Oh yeah? How? What could be worse than this? Tell me."  
  
"Well, a million things. Like being captured by the Dragons." Iarra turned her head and gave him a lopsided smile. "They're not as kind as we are."  
  
"Somehow, I doubt that."  
  
"Oh come on, Mido", she said as she turned back her head back to the front. "We tried not to hurt you."  
  
Ban snorted. "Maybe you should try harder."  
  
Iarra stopped. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Then she turned around to face him, a hint of weariness in her eyes. "Look", she said. "I know this probably means nothing to you, but... I'm really sorry."  
  
Ban just looked at her and said nothing. Finally he said, "You said you're not gonna kill me. Why?"  
  
Iarra smiled. "You already asked me that question."  
  
"You haven't answered."  
  
"What makes you think I'm gonna do so now?"  
  
Ban's eyes narrowed. "I don't need your damn apology. What I need are answers."  
  
An explosion sounded above them. The hint of weariness in Iarra's features suddenly disappeared and was replaced by determination. "We better get going", she said as she abruptly turned around.  
  
"Oi! I'm not done talking to you!"  
  
"You can talk and walk at the same time, can't you?", Iarra said. Although she was still examining the tunnel walls, her pace had significantly quickened.  
  
"Fine", Ban said as he picked up his gait to catch up with her. "I'm gonna keep asking you the same question until you get so annoyed that you'd tell me the answer just to shut me up."  
  
She chuckled. "You're just wasting your breath, Mido."  
  
He ignored her remark and asked, "Who gave you orders not to kill me? Havoc?"  
  
"Maybe", Iarra said.  
  
"Come on, Dagger Babe. Tell me. Why did you take me and Ginji here?"  
  
She just smiled as she continued to scan the walls.  
  
As he walked with his hands in his pockets, he noticed that he was now sweeping the ceiling with his hair. Since he was certain that he didn't grow taller in the last few minutes, that meant that the ceiling had become lower. _Interesting_, he thought. He wondered whether it was a mistake or if it was intended.  
  
"And why is the Mikazuki Munechika in your list of must-haves, anyway?", he asked.  
  
"That I can answer", she said, smiling at him. "There's an increasing international demand for Japanese swords, nowadays." She chuckled. "Which is funny, because some people who want to have Japanese swords don't even have the faintest idea about them."  
  
Then she continued, "But there are some out there who are really obssessed with katanas. Some of them are even willing to pay loads of moolah for swords such as the Mikazuki Munechika."  
  
"You are aware that it's a National Treasure, right?", Ban said.  
  
"Of course. The fact that it's one of the Tenka Go Ken has increased its value."  
  
Ban snorted. "So, you don't care that you're taking away a part of Japan's culture."  
  
"Oh, don't give me that crap, Mido", Iarra said. "You saw Karekawa's collection. You knew that most of them are stolen. Some of them are also National Treasures. But did you lift a finger to give it back to the people of Japan? No. You were paid to take only the Mikazuki Munechika. So that's what you took, and nothing else." Then she smiled. "Can't say the same for your partner, though. He seemed genuinely concerned about getting back those other items."  
  
Ban glared at her. _At least she's talking,_ he thought. Maybe he could get her to say something that he could use. "You said 'international demand'. Does that mean that the people who want the Mikazuki Munechika are out of the country?"  
  
Iarra considered whether to answer his question, then decided that there was no harm in doing so. "Yep."  
  
"So the sword is now on its way to them."  
  
"It's supposed to be", she said.  
  
_It's supposed to be. What does that mean?,_ Ban wondered. There seemed to be a 'but' in Iarra's reply. The sword was supposed to be on its way, BUT... Then he smiled inwardly. The Dragons had probably messed up Dark Fleet's schedule. So that means that the sword was still in Japan. _Maybe this job isn't a failure yet.  
_  
Iarra glanced at him wryly. "Sorry for ruining your 100 percent success rate."  
  
Ban narrowed his eyes at her. "You seem to know a lot about us."  
  
She rolled her eyes. "Don't flatter yourself. If that fact is a secret, you're doing a really rotten job of keeping it."  
  
He gave her a confused look.  
  
"It's all over your flyers, Mido", she said, amused.  
  
"You have our flyers?"  
  
Iarra stopped and turned around. Grinning, she walked up to him. "YOU...", she said. "...personally handed me one."  
  
Ban stared at her. She chuckled softly, then turned around and continued to walk forward.  
  
It shouldn't come as a surprise, Ban thought. He had distributed thousands of flyers in the years that he and Ginji had been retrieval agents. He shook his head as he followed Iarra. Life could be so ironic sometimes.  
  
After a few more steps, Ban noticed that his head was now bumping the ceiling. Rather than hunching, he chose to just cock his head to the side. The ceiling continued to go lower and lower, until Ban had no choice but to hunch. He scowled. Damn, his back was beginning to ache. And walking briskly only made it worse. He looked at Iarra and saw that she was still walking irritatingly upright. He turned his attention to the walls, or rather what was on the surface of the walls that his "guide" was checking out. The walls were rough, and that made it hard to tell which markings were actual symbols, and which ones were products of erosion. He wondered idly on how long it took for one to master those symbols.  
  
Iarra suddenly stopped. The hunched Get Backer, who was busy observing the markings on the wall, bumped into her, hitting her head with his and sending her face flat on the floor, or rather the twigs and branches covering the floor.  
  
"Owww!", they both yelled.  
  
Iarra sat up and rubbed her head. "Dammit, Mido," she said as she groaned. "Is that head made of steel or something?"  
  
"Well, you shouldn't have hit on the breaks, sweetheart." Ban grimaced as he rubbed the spot where he hit Iarra and sat down, finally giving his aching back a rest. "Causes accidents on freeways, you know."  
  
Iarra scowled at him. Ban paid no attention to her as he stretched, to the delight of his back muscles. He then surveyed the branches on the floor. They extended from where Iarra was sitting to farther into the tunnel.  
  
"What's with the branches?", he said.  
  
"That's what I was trying to figure out when you so rudely sent me to the floor."  
  
Ban chuckled. "Oh, is that so."  
  
She was rolling her eyes when something on the ceiling caught her attention. She stood up and walked slowly farther into the tunnel, crushing the branches underneath her feet.  
  
Ban, curious about what she saw, quickly stood up. In his curiosity, he forgot about the ceiling and hit his head hard on it as he stood up. He cursed. _Whoever built this tunnel is a sadist freak_, he thought.  
  
Iarra turned her head to Ban. "You okay?"  
  
"I'm fine. Thanks for your concern", Ban said sarcastically.  
  
She frowned, then turned her back to him as she continued walking carefully. After a few steps, she stopped, and touched some markings on the ceiling.  
  
Ban, who was unfortunately forced to hunch again, followed to see what she was looking at. As he moved closer, he heard her mutter while glaring at the markings, "What the hell do you mean?"  
  
He raised his eyebrows. "You mean you can't read 'em?"  
  
"I can read 'em fine", she snapped, then turned her attention back to the markings. "It's just that they're not being very clear about what we should be expecting."  
  
Ban stared at the markings, then back at Iarra. "What exactly are they saying, anyway?"  
  
"That the branches are here for a reason", she answered. She sighed, then muttered under her breath, "Duh." Then she held up her hand and touched one of the symbols. "This is a pointing symbol. It's pointing forward."  
  
He thought for a moment about what she just said, then surmised, "Maybe it's pointing to the reason why the branches are here."  
  
"Maybe", she said. She then grinned. "Let's find out, shall we?" She started to walk deeper into the tunnel.  
  
Ban watched her as she walked, the sound of branches being crushed echoing through the tunnel. _What the hell did those markings mean?,_ he wondered. The branches were there for a reason. Why would somebody cover the floor with branches? He watched Iarra, a growing feeling of unease settling in his gut.  
  
"Oi, Dagger Babe", he called out.  
  
"What?", Iarra said, but kept on walking.  
  
"You might wanna slow down..."  
  
Iarra shrieked as the branches that she stepped on gave way.  
  
Ban's eyes widened. He rushed towards her and reached out for her, but he had only managed to grab air as she disappeared through the hole on the floor. He stared into the hole, and saw nothing but darkness.  
  
"Iarra!", he yelled into the hole. But silence was all he heard. He scanned the walls, then the ceiling, then the branches on the floor, trying to decide quickly what to do. He stared back at the hole, then glared at it.  
  
"Dammit!", he cursed, gritting his teeth as he jumped in.

* * *

Ginji dropped down on the floor and shielded his head with his arms when an explosion erupted a few feet away from him. The sound of running footsteps urged him to start moving. He gathered his bearings and quickly got up. Spotting a door to his right, he got inside just as the sound of people shouting and guns firing echoed through the corridors.  
  
The other side of the door turned out to be a small closet. While inside, he heard the sound of a distant explosion, then more guns firing just outside the closet door. He gasped as a stray bullet hit the wall that he was leaning against inches from his head. Beads of sweat trickled down his face. He heard a guy scream, then was silenced by more guns firing. He winced.  
  
_What is going on out there?_, he thought. _It almost sounds like a war._  
  
The gunshots stopped. Then he heard a man's voice yelling in another language. It sounded like Chinese, and it sounded like he was giving orders. The next sound he heard were people running, and then silence. He waited a few more minutes. Once he was sure it was safe, he opened the door and peered outside.  
  
What he saw made his heart stop. Five Dark Fleet guards were strewn on the floor. He stepped outside and bowed his head. Yes, they were his enemies, but they didn't have to die. As he stared at them, he was briefly reminded of a painful memory in Mugenjou, during the days when gangs from the Beltline preyed on whoever they wish. He shook his head and made his way away from the bodies. Now was not the time to think about such things. He had to find Ban-chan. He just had to.

* * *

Iarra jammed her heels against the walls of the hole that she fell into, trying to slow her down, but to no avail. She was falling too damn fast. If only she had her daggers, she would've plunged them into the side walls of the rocky slide that she found herself into. That would stop her fall. She was sure of it, since she had done it before. Unfortunately, she didn't have her daggers. That damn Mido had them, so now she had no choice but to let herself slide. It would've been fun if not for the jagged edges that pierced her arms, her butt, and her back as she slid faster. And it would've been more fun if water was flowing down the slide and if this ended with a swimming pool below, she thought, chuckling to herself.  
  
Suddenly, she found herself in midair. The rocky slide had apparently ended. She looked down. _Nope, no swimming pool_, she thought wryly.  
  
She landed on the ground with a thud, the dust kicking up into her face. She winced, then groaned. That had HURT, she thought as she rubbed the part where she had hit the ground, her butt. She checked herself for damage, and noticed several scrapes on her arms. The hole that Mido had made on her suit near her right elbow had now widened, and the sides of her pants have tear marks. She felt something trickle down from her forehead. She wiped it with the back of her hand and saw that it was blood. _Shoot._  
  
Just then, a small rock hit her squarely at the top of her head._ Ouch!_ She looked up to see where the rock came from. Dust and small pebbles started falling from the hole where she popped down from. _What the...?_ She squinted. She heard sounds of someone grunting. 

The next thing she saw were shoe soles coming straight at her. She gasped and rolled to the side, then a cursing Mido Ban in chibi form emerged from the hole and landed on the spot where she previously was.  
  
"Aaaaahhh! This place is driving me crazyyyy!!!", Ban screamed, then continued to mutter obscenties under his breath.  
  
Iarra stared at him for a long moment, then smiled.  
  
Ban turned his head to her and growled, "What are you smiling at, you cutlery-obssessed freak?!"  
  
Still smiling, she shook her head. "Nothing."  
  
A vein popped on Ban's head. He lunged at her and wrapped both of his hands around Iarra's neck. In a low voice, he said, "I am THIS close to snapping your neck."  
  
Iarra met his gaze calmly. "But you wouldn't."  
  
"How can you be so sure?", he growled.  
  
A hint of a smile crossed Iarra's lips. "You followed me", she said.  
  
His eyes narrowed. "Yeah, I did, and I think I'm beginning to regret that decision."  
  
"No time for regrets now, Mido."  
  
Ban stared at her for a long moment, then took a deep breath. Finally, he release his grip on her. "Damn you", he muttered.  
  
Iarra's eyebrows shot up. "Damn you, too", she retorted.  
  
She ignored the glare that Ban was shooting at her as she looked around. They were in what seemed to be a small square chamber. One of the corners of the chamber had a light bulb, which didn't help much in showing them how high the ceiling of the chamber was. All they could see as they looked up was darkness. The ground, as they have painfully discovered earlier, was of solid rock and covered with dust. The walls were made of smooth cement painted in black.  
  
"How do you suppose could we get out of here, o great Reader-Of-The-Markers?", Ban asked.  
  
Iarra frowned at him, then sighed. "I don't know."  
  
Ban turned his head to her. "You don't know???!"  
  
"Yet", Iarra replied as she looked around. "But I'll find out. Be patient and sit down there for a minute, okay?" She spotted some markings on the wall behind her.  
  
"Be patient? BE PATIENT??? Let me tell you something, Iarra. Just in case you haven't noticed it yet, patience is NOT one of my strengths!"  
  
"Just one minute", she said, turning to look at him. Then she smirked. "Give yourself a nice dream in the meantime or something." She then turned to the wall and studied the markings.  
  
Ban scowled. He should've concocted the worst possible nightmare ever when he used his Jagan on her. Oh yeah. That would've been sweet. He sighed, then looked around. _There's something not right about this place_, he thought. _I wonder what's behind those walls._ He stood up.  
  
Iarra turned her head to him and asked, "Hey, what are you doing?"  
  
Ban ignored her and started walking towards the far side of the room.  
  
Iarra's eyes widened. She stood up and reached out to Ban and yelled, "No, no, no. Don't -- Aaahh!"  
  
Suddenly, a net hidden underneath the ground snapped up. The net, made from stainless steel wire, caught Ban and Iarra in a tangle of arms and legs and lifted them high above the ground.  
  
Iarra found herself looking up at the dark ceiling, her legs held up against the net. She tried to calm herself down and took a deep breath.  
  
"Owww", a muffled voice puled beneath her.  
  
She looked down and realized that she was lying on Mido's back. Mido's abdomen was pressing against the bottom of the net with his legs sticking out underneath. His head was turned to the side, his cheeks squeezed between the net on one side and Iarra's elbow on the other.  
  
She gasped. "I'm so sorry", she said as she writhed to get herself off of him. Which was not easy in the cramped space they were in.  
  
Ban wriggled to get himself upright when he accidentally on purpose dug his elbow against Iarra's ribs. He smiled smugly when she groaned. They struggled to get themselves into more comfortable positions, swaying the net with every movement that they made.  
  
After a series of grunts, growls, curses, and glares, they finally settled down. They were now sitting side by side, with their knees up to their chins, the net still swinging like a pendulum.  
  
"What a nice mess you got us into", Ban remarked dryly.  
  
"Me??!", Iarra said as she turned her head to glare at him. "You're the one who triggered this damn net!"  
  
"Well, if you worked on reading those damn markers just a little bit faster, then I wouldn't have taken it upon myself to look for our way out!"  
  
"I asked you to SIT DOWN. It's not my fault you're a dimwit who has trouble following simple instructions!"  
  
"DIMWIT??!! Who's the dimwit who fell into that freaking hole in the first place?!"  
  
"We were FINE after we fell through that hole. And we would've been FINE if you had just listened and stayed there like I told you to!"  
  
"Fine?? Let me tell you what I consider 'fine'. Me and Ginji, two million yen richer, gobbling down on some sushi and steak right now. We would've been FINE if you hadn't shown up, stabbed us on the leg, stolen the sword from us, and brought us into this damn place for reasons only God knows what. If you had just minded your own business, I wouldn't be here in this stupid net, having this stupid argument with an underage smuggler who didn't pay attention during smuggling training enough to read those stupid markers!!!"  
  
Iarra just stared at him as he fumed. Finally, she said, "Did you hear that?"  
  
Ban frowned at her, then asked exasperatedly, "Hear what?"  
  
They stared at each other, listening. After a long moment, they heard the faint rumble of gears meshing.  
  
"Oh, no", Iarra whispered.  
  
Ban scowled. "What do you mean by 'oh, no'?"  
  
Suddenly, they heard the _shiiinggg!_ sound of metal sliding against metal. Slowly, they turned their heads to the sound, and saw long metal spikes protruding from the wall in front of them. Ban and Iarra stared at the spikes, mouths hanging open. Their eyes widened as they watched that section of the wall slowly move towards them.  
  
"'Oh, no' indeed", Ban muttered.

* * *

Notes: When I first thought about the plot for this story, I thought it would be just four chapters long. Guess I'm mistaken...  
  
rabid lola: Well, she's got the upper hand on this one. Ban has no choice but to follow her ;-) About Iarra's nationality.. Well, she's Asian, and can pass for Japanese. But just like most of the characters in GB, her background is a mystery. Actually, that's a fancy way of saying, I haven't really thought about it yet ;-)  
  
Atropos' Knife: Hey, thanks! I had fun researching about stuff like these. Mayumi-san is a nerd :-) Don't worry too much about Ban. He's a tough guy. He's gonna get out of this in one piece hehe :-)  
  
limelie: Well, let's just say that there's more to Iarra than what she seems ;-)  
  
animeprincess1452: Thanks! Glad you're enjoying this so far :-)  
  
blackangel123: Get Backers is also one of my favorite shows. Heck, it actually inspired me to write. Who would've guessed that? :-)


	5. Wanna Play Darts?

Disclaimer: I asked Aoki and Ayamine, but they don't want to sell GB to me. (The first part of that sentence is not true. If it were, the second part would most likely be true.)

* * *

"This is just great", Ban remarked as the metal spikes grew closer. "Death by impalement while hanging in midair. How creative!"  
  
"Shut up, I'm trying to think!", Iarra snapped at him. The metal spikes were about three feet away from the net and were getting closer with each second.  
  
"You know, when you guys thought of these traps, did you ever think of ways to get out just in case an incompetent fellow smuggler..." He looked pointedly at Iarra. "... happens to be stupid enough to stumble upon them?!"  
  
She looked around frantically, trying to figure out a way to stop the spikes, or get them out of the steel net, or at least get them down low enough out of the reach of those damn spikes. She gazed up, and her eyes fixed on something above. Ban followed her gaze, but all he saw was darkness.  
  
"Give me my daggers!", Iarra suddenly said, still intently looking up.  
  
"What? No way!", Ban retorted. The metal spikes were now about two feet away.  
  
She turned her head to glare at him. "We don't have time to argue about this!", she said. She put her hands on Ban's shoulders and twisted him around hard. The movement sent the net into another swinging spree.  
  
"Owww! What the...?!!", Ban protested.  
  
She reached behind him and felt for his back pocket until her hands found the pouch containing her daggers.  
  
"If you wanted to grab my ass, you could've just said so!", Ban said.  
  
Iarra gave him a deadly glare as she swiftly took out one of her daggers. Ban thought it was wise to shut up right then. The spikes were now about a foot away from them. He watched her as she leaned her head back and looked up. She intently focused on a point near the single thick wire that was holding the net.  
  
_Darn it_, she thought. The net's swinging motion was making it very difficult to focus.  
  
She narrowed her eyes, aimed her dagger and hurled it upwards. Ban heard the dagger hit something on the ceiling. Then the thick wire that was suspending them up snapped loose, hurling the net and its contents to the side. Ban and Iarra hit the ground and, rolling from the momentum caused by the swaying of the net, landed in a tangled heap near the wall.  
  
The metal spikes continued moving until they reached the point where the net was hanging a few seconds ago. Then the spikes suddenly lunged forward, intending to plunge the sharp tips into their supposed victims. Ban and Iarra stared at the spikes and gulped.  
  
After a long moment of staring at the spikes, Iarra finally gave a sigh of relief.  
  
"We're still inside the net", Ban, who was lying beside her, said.  
  
Iarra closed her eyes in irritation. "I can see that."  
  
She took out another of her daggers and, using the sharp edge of the dagger, started to saw one of the wires of the net. Amused, Ban watched her hand move back and forth in a seemingly futile attempt to slice the wire. He knew what she was trying to do, but he just had to ask.  
  
"What the hell are you doing?", Ban asked.  
  
"I'm imagining this is your neck."  
  
He chuckled. "That's a pretty disturbing imagination. You've got issues, babe. Ever thought about seeing a shrink someday?"  
  
Iarra clenched her fist around her dagger and, with gritted teeth, more furiously tries to cut the wire. "You're one to talk. You've gotta have a pretty disturbing imagination yourself if you could conjure up all those nightmarish hallucinations."  
  
The wire broke with a snap. Iarra relaxed for a moment and tried to catch her breath.  
  
"Wow", Ban commented. "THAT is gonna take a long time."  
  
"I don't see you doing anything, so why don't you just shut up."  
  
"Why would I want to do anything?", Ban said smirking. "Why would I want to get out of here when..." He traced his finger against Iarra's cheek. "... we're just starting to get cozy?"  
  
"That's IT!", Iarra said angrily. She suddenly rolled on top of him and pinned his left hand with her right knee. With her left hand, she grabbed his right wrist and held it against the ground. Then she pointed her dagger at his throat.  
  
In a low voice, she said, "Mido, if you don't stop it, I swear..."  
  
Ban looked her straight in the eye and asked, "You'll do what?"  
  
Iarra said nothing and just glared at him. Ban glared back.  
  
After a long tense moment, Ban said, "You can't disobey your orders, can you?"  
  
_Damn_, Iarra thought. She knew he would be counting on that. She growled, "Oh, I'm not gonna kill you. I'm just gonna make you suffer."  
  
Ban raised his eyebrows. "I thought you were doing it already."  
  
Iarra gritted her teeth. With her left hand, she made a motion of squeezing his face as she yelled, "Aaaagggh!" Then she rolled back down to his side. "You are driving me crazy!!! I don't know how Amano does it, but he has GOT to be a saint if he can stand being with you for more than five minutes!"  
  
She then took a deep breath to calm herself down, then continued to saw another wire.  
  
Ban grinned. He propped his elbow and leaned his head on his hand as he faced Iarra. "Wow, what an outburst. I didn't know I could affect you like that."  
  
"I am ignoring you", Iarra said, still intent on sawing the wire.  
  
He watched her with amusement. "You know, there's a better way of doing that."  
  
She stopped sawing and sighed in frustration. "Oh really", she said as she wiped the sweat from her brow. "I can hardly wait to see it."  
  
He smirked. "Give me that", he said, reaching out for the wires that Iarra was trying to cut. He gave a big yank, and the wires snapped one by one, creating an opening just enough for them to go through.  
  
Iarra stared at the opening. _Whoa_, she thought. She knew he was strong, but she had no idea he was THIS strong. Then she turned her head to scowl at Ban.  
  
Ban noticed her scowling and asked, "Is that how you thank people?"  
  
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Why didn't you save us the trouble of ending up here when you could've done that WHILE we were still hanging up there?"  
  
He gave her a lopsided grin. "I thought you've already figured everything out."  
  
Iarra shot mental daggers at him with her eyes.  
  
Ban continued, still grinning, "Although I think that that landing could've been better, you straddling me made it all worthwhile."  
  
Iarra's jaw dropped. "I DID NOT STRADDLE YOU, YOU BIG PERVERT!!" And with that, she backhanded him on the nose.  
  
"Aaahh! What's the big idea?!", Ban exclaimed as he turned chibi and held his injured nose. "Geez, being this close to you can be hazardous to one's health."  
  
Iarra just gave him a piercing glare and got out of the net. Moving around in the net had caused wisps of hair to fall and were now framing her face. She looked around at the ground and started picking some of the black beads that fell from her hair.  
  
Ban turned back to his normal form and also stood up out of the net. He put his hands in his pockets and watched Iarra as she picked the beads and attached them back in her hair.  
  
"I didn't know you'd be the type to worry about your hair accessories", Ban commented.  
  
Iarra said nothing as she continued to pick beads up and place them in her hair.  
  
"Hmm... Silence, huh? What happened to your smart comebacks? Did you finally realize that you can't win against the Invincible Mido Ban-sama?", Ban asked.  
  
"Mido", Iarra started to say.  
  
"-sama", Ban interrupted.  
  
Iarra stared at him. "Mido", she repeated, very calmly. "I am in a very bad mood right now. I think it would be for your benefit if you would, for once... just... shut..." Without taking her eyes off him, she reached out and the dagger that she had hurled at the ceiling flew to her hand. "... up."  
  
Ban just looked at her, a hint of a smile on his lips. "Is that a threat?", he asked.  
  
Iarra knelt on one knee and started placing all four of her daggers back into her boots. "No", she replied. "Consider it a friendly piece of advice."  
  
"Friendly?", Ban snorted. "Somehow, a friendly piece of advice coming from you sounds like a threat."  
  
She threw the leather pouch that previously held her daggers on the ground. She then stood up and gave Ban a feral grin. "Are you saying the Invincible Mido Ban-sama feels threatened?", she asked.  
  
"No."  
  
"Good", Iarra said before Ban could say anything more. "So why don't you be a good boy and stay there while I figure out a way out of here." She walked towards the wall that she had been examining before that whole net-and-spike hoo-hah.  
  
"Look, you aichmo-maniac (1)", Ban said as he walked over to her. "I don't care if this is your freaking territory, but I don't take orders from anyone. Ever."  
  
"Yeah, you don't listen even if it makes more sense to do so", Iarra said as she knelt down and traced her fingers against the markings etched on the wall. "It's amazing you're still alive."  
  
Ban narrowed his eyes at her. "You seem to be forgetting that I'M the one who got us out of that net. If it weren't for me, you'd be sawing those wires until your hairs turn gray."  
  
"Yeah, about that", Iarra said, leaning her elbow on her knee. She turned her head and looked up at Ban. "I've never seen anyone break those nets with their bare hands before."  
  
_Uhh... Was that a compliment?_, he thought. He was prepared for more verbal sparring with her, but not a compliment. Assuming that was a compliment. Was it?  
  
_Interesting_, Iarra was thinking. _He finally shut up_.  
  
She smiled, then stood up and walked over to one side of the chamber. Ban watched her as she put her palms against the wall, and pushed. Nothing happened. She then turned around and gave another push, this time, using her back, her face crunching up with the effort. Still, nothing happened.  
  
Ban walked over to her and chuckled. "Now what are you doing?"  
  
To his surprise, Iarra chuckled as well. Then she leaned her head against the wall, panting. "This...", she said, pointing a thumb behind her. "... is actually a door leading to our way out. I was trying to push it open, but as you can see, it's a lot like you."  
  
Ban gave her a confused look. "It's... very strong?"  
  
She chuckled. "It's very stubborn."  
  
Ban mimicked her chuckle. "Funny. Now get of the way and let me at it."  
  
She grinned. "Now that's what I'm talking about." She stepped away from the wall.  
  
Ban pressed his palms against the wall.  
  
"Yeah", Iarra said. "Make that great strength of yours useful. Move those powerful muscles. Bend the door to your iron will. Make them..." Iarra stopped as she saw Ban glare at her. "What? I just thought I'd give you moral support."  
  
"Well, cut it out. I don't need your freaking moral support."  
  
"Oh, right. Because you're the Invincible Mido Ban-sama!"  
  
"Oh, shut up!"  
  
Iarra grinned. "Now YOU'RE telling ME to shut up?"  
  
"Oh, I get it", Ban said. He pushed at the concrete door, but the door didn't budge. "This is your idea of revenge."  
  
"Revenge? Nahh. If I wanted revenge, it'll be much worse", she said with a mischevious glint in her eyes.  
  
Ban mustered up all his strength, and pushed at the door. Sweat began to form on his forehead, but the door still wouldn't budge. He stopped and looked at Iarra. "How much worse? Like making me push at a solid wall?"  
  
"It may look like a solid wall, but it's a door."  
  
"How do you know that? Did those stupid markers tell you?"  
  
"Yes", Iarra replied. "Plus, if you look closely enough here..." She traced her fingers on a vertical ridge on the wall "... you'll see the edges of the door."  
  
Ban peered over his sunglasses. With the black wall and the dim light, it was almost impossible to see the vertical ridge. But it was there. He scanned the rest of the wall with his fingers, and sure enough, about three feet across was another ridge parallel to the one he found earlier. He couldn't see farther up to find out how high the supposed door was. He looked at the ridges and, he hated to admit it, but it looked like Iarra was right.  
  
"Are you sure we're supposed to push it?", he asked, looking at the door doubtfully.  
  
It took a long time before Iarra answered, "Umm... Not really."  
  
Ban glared at her. "What?!"  
  
"Hehe", she laughed nervously. "The markers said 'push', but..." Her voice trailed off as she saw Ban's murderous eyes. Then she grinned sheepishly "... I'll go check again." She made her way to the wall where the markings were.  
  
"Yeah. You go do that", Ban said through gritted teeth. "And this time, make sure you know exactly HOW to open this damn door before you make me do something ridiculous."  
  
When Iarra reached the wall, she pressed her right palm on the markings.  
  
Ban leaned back against the door and called out, "Yo, Iarra."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"This place doesn't happen to have any more flammable liquids nearby, does it?"  
  
Iarra thought for a moment. "No. Why?" She turned her head to look at him.  
  
Ban didn't answer. He just took out his cigarette pack, pulled a stick with his mouth, and lighted it up.  
  
Iarra sighed as she turned back to the wall. She sweeped the wall with her hand, moving her palm farther to the right and feeling the etchings on the surface for more clues.  
  
Ban took a puff from his cigarette and exhaled. _Damn, that felt good_, he thought. He took another drag, and let the intake of nicotine calm him down. While he smoked, he observed Iarra as she placed her hand lower on the wall and slid her palm across the surface.  
  
This job turned out to be more complicated than he thought. He had never met any of the Dark Fleet agents before, at least not with his knowing about it. He knew they were formidable opponents. But it was one thing to know about it, and another thing to actually know it in his gut. He shook his head and added Dark Fleet to his mental list of 'Things to Consider Before Taking a Job'.  
  
Iarra continued to scan two more rows of markings with her palm, then stopped. She crossed her arms over her chest, thinking.  
  
Finally, she muttered, "Oh, I get it."  
  
She then turned and walked back to the door. She stopped in front of the left edge of the door, and again swept it with her hands. She felt her left hand brush on something. She took a closer look and found a small slot on the wall. Keeping her eyes on the slot, she lifted her right knee and picked up one of her daggers. She then dropped her foot back down and inserted the dagger in the slot. It fit perfectly. Then, like a key inside a keyhole, she turned the dagger to the right.  
  
They heard the sound of gears squeaking, and Ban felt the door vibrate slightly against his back. He quickly turned around to face the door. Iarra then pulled her dagger out and lifted her knee again to place it back in her boot.  
  
Ban stared at the still closed door, and asked, "Now what?"  
  
Iarra smiled at him. "Now we push."  
  
Ban turned to look at her then raised an eyebrow.  
  
"I'm sure this time", Iarra told him.  
  
As if to prove her point, she pressed her palms against the door and pushed. The door swung open with a high-pitched squeak, revealing another tunnel similar to the one they dropped down from, with the rough cement walls and the dim light bulbs.  
  
"Not again", Ban groaned.  
  
Iarra gave him a lopsided smile and said, "You can stay here if you want."  
  
"And miss out on all the fun?", Ban said. "I don't think so."  
  
He started to walk forward. Iarra blocked his way with her arm.  
  
"Get behind me", Iarra told him. "And stay behind me."  
  
Ban glowered at her.  
  
"It's for your own good", she said. She stepped forward and stopped. "And mine", she added as an afterthought.

* * *

They had walked only a few meters when Iarra suddenly stopped and stared at some markings on the left wall of the tunnel. Ban couldn't help but a feel a sense of dread. No doubt she spotted something again that would support his theory that Dark Fleet is made up of a bunch of psychos.  
  
"What is it this time?", he asked wearily.  
  
Instead of replying, Iarra stepped forward, and a small object from the right wall immediately flew to her head. She swiftly leaned back and caught the object as it passed by her face.  
  
She stepped back and opened her palm to see what she had caught. It was a dart. She scrutinized the dart for a few seconds, then held it near her nose to sniff the tip.  
  
Ban looked at the right wall for the source of the dart, but could not find one. _Where in the world did that dart come from?_, he wondered.  
  
Seeing Ban's puzzled expression, Iarra walked over to the right wall. Careful not to trigger more darts, she placed her forefinger on the wall, pointing at a very tiny hole. "It came from here", she said.  
  
Ban looked at the hole, then at the dart in Iarra's hand, then back at the hole. _There's no way that dart could have fit in there_, he thought.  
  
Noticing the cynicism on Ban's face, Iarra held the dart up and twisted the tail part. The dart fins disappeared within tiny slots at the dart's tail. Without the fins, the dart could easily fit into the hole. She released her hold on the tail, and the fins immediately reappeared.  
  
"Pretty cool, huh?", Iarra said, smiling smugly.  
  
He had to admit, the design of the dart was pretty ingenious. He tried to look unimpressed as he looked at Iarra. "I've seen better."  
  
She raised her eyebrows. Then she turned her attention back to the tunnel.  
  
"There are hundreds of holes like this on both walls of the tunnel. And it goes on for about...", she glanced at the markings on the left wall. "... twenty meters. The good news is, this trap can be disabled. The bad news is..." She looked at Ban. "... the controls are on the other side."  
  
_They're definitely a bunch of psychos_, Ban concluded.  
  
"So I'm gonna go over there and disable the trap. You stay here until I give the go signal, alright?", she told him.  
  
Ban just looked at her and said nothing.  
  
"Alright?", Iarra repeated, more firmly this time.  
  
Ban shrugged. "Whatever you say."  
  
Iarra sighed, then turned back to the tunnel. She closed her eyes and took a slow deep breath. She exhaled slowly, stepped her right foot back, and slowly opened her eyes.  
  
The fierce look in Iarra's eyes when she opened them made Ban almost gasp. She seemed to transform into a completely different person. If those darts were alive, they'd probably think twice before attacking her.  
  
Iarra bent her knees, then took off. Darts started to fly from both sides of the tunnel. She did a front flip to avoid them. While in midair, she twisted her body to dodge a dart that was headed for her shoulder. She dropped on the floor in a crouching position. Then she quickly leaped up and did a somersault, avoiding more darts. As she landed, several more darts flew to her face. She ducked, then rolled forward. She continued to do a series of similar maneuvers until she reached the end of the twenty meters, where she landed on one knee.  
  
Panting, she turned her head and saw Ban staring at the floor. She followed his gaze and dropped her jaw at all the darts laying on the floor behind her. She didn't realize there were that many. She breathed a sigh of relief.  
  
Ban watched her as she stood up, walked over to the left side of the tunnel, and stared at something on the wall. She stood motionless for what seemed like an eternity. Ban shifted his leg.  
  
_Man, she's really taking her time on this one_, he thought.  
  
Iarra was staring at the outline of a small panel on the wall. The controls to disable the trap were inside the panel. The problem was, she couldn't find the button to open it.  
  
"Oi!", Ban called out to her. "If you wanted to do an impersonation of a stone statue, you could've at least done that graceful pose of the Venus de Milo or something. I could help you come up with ideas on what the arms should look like. Actually, I've already thought of several interesting ones. Wanna know what they are?"  
  
"Why don't YOU just do the David (2) pose and be quiet?", Iarra shot back.  
  
"You wanna see me do the David pose?", Ban said, grinning. "You're pretty fast, babe. And I thought you were coy."  
  
"That's not what I meant", she turned her head to him and made a face. "Ewww."  
  
Ban chuckled.  
  
"Yuck", she muttered. She shook her head to clear her mind of the disturbing mental image brought about by that recent conversation.  
  
She looked back at the holes where the darts came from, and noticed that the outermost hole was bigger than the rest. _That's wierd_, she thought. She looked closer at it. Inside was the button that she was looking for. She felt like kicking herself. She should've spotted that earlier. She cursed. _Stay focused_, she commanded herself.  
  
Ban saw her press her finger on the wall, and a panel suddenly swung open from the wall's surface. _You mean she hasn't started disabling the stupid trap?_, he thought.  
  
He watched her stare at the controls inside, and groaned. And it looks like she doesn't even know how to start. He scowled. He hated having to wait for her to figure things out.  
  
He looked at the holes at the tunnel walls, then surveyed the darts on the floor. It's not that bad, he thought. He could move faster than Iarra, he was sure of that. So if she survived that, he didn't see why he couldn't.  
  
Iarra sensed a different aura coming from Ban's direction. She glanced at him and caught him staring at the darts intently.

_He couldn't possibly be thinking..._ Seeing the look on Ban's eyes, she inhaled sharply. _Oh, shit. He is._  
  
Ban suddenly lunged forward. Iarra gasped. She had to restrain herself to keep from yelling at him. The slightest distraction could make things turn ugly. She'd just yell at him later. She bit her lip as she watched him somersault forward to avoid the several darts flying at him.  
  
Yes, he was fast. But to survive this trap, one could not rely on speed alone. The only reason she got through it safely was that she had been trained for this. Ban hadn't.  
  
Ban ducked and dodged so swiftly that Iarra sometimes couldn't keep track of him. She couldn't help but be amazed at his impressive speed. Maybe speed was all this guy needed, she considered.  
  
Ban reached the end of the twenty meters and stopped beside Iarra. He grinned smugly at her.  
  
Iarra didn't realize that she was holding her breath. She exhaled, then glared at Ban. Now was the time to yell.  
  
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FREAKING MIND??!", she exploded.  
  
"I told you before, patience is NOT one of my strengths", Ban retorted. He felt something on his right wrist. Without moving his head, he dropped his eyes at his wrist and saw a fresh cut. He didn't realize he got grazed.  
  
Iarra followed his gaze. "Let me see that", she said. She reached out to grab his wrist.  
  
He pulled his wrist away from her grasp. "It's nothing", he said.  
  
"Just let me take a look at it", she insisted.  
  
"I'm fine", Ban said, frowning at her. "It's just another stupid graze, okay? It's not much different from the ones that YOU gave me."  
  
Iarra took a step closer to him and tilted her chin up to directly look him in the eye. "Mido", she said in a low voice. "Those darts have poisons that can rot your flesh from the inside out. If you want to keep that hand, I suggest that you forget about your ego for a minute and show it to me."  
  
Ban glared at her, but said nothing. Without taking his eyes off hers, he held his wrist up. "There. You happy now?"  
  
Iarra took a look at his wrist, then sighed. "Sit down", she said.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because", she replied exasperatedly. "Sitting down will slow the poison down while I give you the antidote. And it's about time we rest, anyway." She moved away from the wall to make way for him. "Here, sit here so you can lean on the wall."  
  
Thankfully, Ban obliged. He sat down on the floor, crossing his legs. "What antidote?"  
  
Iarra sat down in front him and also crossed her legs. She took his wrist with her left hand. With her right hand, she picked one of the black beads in her hair and held it above the cut on Ban's wrist. She then squeezed the bead and drops of clear liquid fell on the wound.  
  
Ban watched her curiously. "What exactly is that?"  
  
She answered, "This would neutralize the poisons that are attacking your cells right now."  
  
"Why were you so worried about getting hit by the darts if you have the antidote?"  
  
"I have enough for just one or two darts", she replied. Then she looked at Ban sternly. "You're lucky this is just a graze. If you got hit directly by more darts, you could've become a vegetable."  
  
He looked at the other beads in her hair. "Do they all contain the same stuff?", he asked, pointing at the beads.  
  
"No. They're different kinds of chemicals."  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"I'm not really in the mood for an inventory right now, Mido", she replied. She held Ban's injured wrist closer to her face, and blew at it.  
  
Ban raised his eyebrow. "You seem to know a lot about cuts", he commented.  
  
She looked at him and smiled. "I should", she said. She then took a dagger out of her boot.  
  
"Whoa", Ban said, quickly pulling his wrist from her. "What are you gonna do with that?"  
  
She chuckled, amused. She then used the dagger to cut her left sleeve off from her suit. She placed the dagger back in her boot, and reached for Ban's wrist. Then she proceeded to wrap his wound with the cut sleeve.  
  
"Oh, okay", Ban said. "For a moment there, I thought you were psycho enough to cut off my hand, Dagger Babe." He chuckled.  
  
She chuckled as well. "You know", she said as she continued to wrap her sleeve around his wrist. "The nicknames are really cute." Still smiling at him, she tied the ends of the sleeve in a knot, a little too tightly. "But I prefer Iarra."  
  
Ban winced, then glared at her.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry", Iarra said, looking at him innocently. "Is it too tight?"  
  
"Too tight? No", Ban answered sarcastically. "It's not tight enough to completely cut off my circulation, IARRA", he continued, stressing her name.  
  
Iarra smiled. "That's more like it", she said, loosening the knot on his wrist.  
  
She then moved to sit beside him, and leaned her head on the wall. "Let's just wait for a few minutes for the antidote to take effect before we get moving."  
  
Ban turned his head to her. "Are you saying that we should sit here and do nothing for the next few minutes?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
He sighed. "Patience is not one of my strengths, and I'm being punished for it."  
  
Iarra smiled.

* * *

Notes: Yeah, yeah, Ginji's not in this chapter. Sorry about that. He was supposed to be here, but after looking at what I've written so far, I realized that the chapter's already quite long. So I just decided to stop and write the next scenes on the next chapter. Again, my apologies...  
  
limelie: Glad I'm not the only one :-)  
  
yuhi-thedoerofevildeeds: A sequel? Hmmm... Well, who knows? I just might!  
  
the PIEROTT: Hey, a smart-ass reviewer! Cool! hehe :-) Thanks for the comment. To tell you the truth, I didn't know it was common knowledge. Guess I wasn't paying attention when I was in third grade. Mayumi-san has an unretentive (3) memory. You know, now that you've mentioned it, Iarra does seem a bit like Gogo. Sorry if the story's kind of confusing. Would you believe that I actually simplified it already? Oh well, I'll try to make it simpler next time. Oh, and about Iarra's profile... Ummm... Like I told Rabid Lola, her background is a mystery hehe :-) I'm gonna reveal stuff about Iarra every now and then, so a profile might spoil it, you know what I mean? ;-) Heck, I haven't even written my own profile yet...  
  
Atropos' Knife: Twisted, eh? Well, you might be surprised to know that I based it on something real. I stumbled upon websites about the Yamashita treasure when I thought about this plot. Here's some more nerdy trivia for you: During World War II, the Japanese had buried the treasure on several locations and booby trapped them. They had also created complicated markers so they could come back for the treasure one day. I don't know exactly what sort of booby traps they had. The ones in this story are just products of Mayumi-san's twisted imagination :-) And I think I confused you a bit. Karekawa had nothing to do with Dark Fleet. He was just a private collector who obtained the sword from the thief. Iarra infiltrated his mansion for the same reason Ban and Ginji did - to get the sword from him. Hmm.. Guess I wasn't very clear about that. Sorry (sheepish grin).  
  
EffyDurach: Hey, Effy! Actually, the character Iarra stemmed from my desire to see more female fighters in GB, so here she is. Glad you like her :-)  
  
lyfforreal: Here's another chapter for ya! But I think it's far from being finished...  
  
(1) Aichmo-maniac. I just invented this word. It came from the word aichmophobia, which is the fear of needles, knives, and other pointed objects. So I bet you can guess what aichmo-maniac means :-)  
  
(2) Yes, I'm referring to Michelangelo's nude marble statue.  
  
(3) Unretentive - not having the power, property, or capacity of retaining. I'm just teasing the PIEROTT hehe :-)


	6. Ginji vs The Dragons

Disclaimer: The last time I checked, GB is still owned by Aoki and Ayamine, not me.  
  
Notes: I've got three words for this chapter: It's Ginji's turn.

* * *

Ginji ran through the dark corridors. He had been running for quite some time now. So far, he had successfully evaded Dark Fleet guards and Chinese-looking soldier types that he had seen.  
  
He wasn't sure what was going on, but he noticed that no more guards seemed to be coming after him. He was glad about that, of course, but it also made him confused. It looked like it had something to do with the appearance of those Chinese fighters. From what he could figure out, there seemed to be some friction going on between them and Dark Fleet. And here he was right in the middle of it.  
  
He reached the end of the corridor and turned right to another hallway. At the far end of the hallway, he could see light coming out of a partially opened door. Something told him that he shouldn't be making so much noise, so he stopped running and started walking briskly instead.  
  
He reached the door and peered cautiously at the room behind. He could see the wooden planks that made up the floor and a mahogany table at the middle of the room. He heard a door at the other end of the room open and a group of armed Chinese men walked in.  
  
He quickly hid behind the door and listened. Maybe he could find out more about what was going on.  
  
The men started talking rapidly in Chinese. Ginji groaned inwardly. So much for eavesdropping. The only Chinese sentence that he knew was a greeting that Ban had taught him when they went to meet a client at the Yokohama Chukagai (1) during the early part of the year.  
  
Wait a minute, why is he hiding anyway? He wasn't part of Dark Fleet. Technically, he was an enemy of Dark Fleet. Maybe if those Chinese men knew that, they wouldn't attack him. They might even tell him how to get out.  
  
He peered at the room again, and at the men's faces. He gulped. He knew bloodthirsty killers when he saw one. And right now, there were a bunch of them. He pulled his head back again and decided that asking them for directions was a bad idea.  
  
He heard the sound of boots on the wooden floor, followed by a door opening, then closing. The next sound he heard was silence. He waited for a few minutes, then peered into the room again. Just as he thought, the men were gone.  
  
He pushed the door open and stepped in. It was a big rectangular room. The mahogany table was very long, reaching almost to both ends of the room. At his right, a circular emblem carved in ebony hung at one wall, behind what he guessed was the head of the table. What struck him about the insignia was not the looming image of a galleon projected on its surface, but the Chinese saber that was plunged right at the center of it. He shuddered. That was definitely symbolic.  
  
He saw four doors at the wall opposite him. He started to walk around the table when he noticed several more doors by the wall where he was. He looked at all the doors and sweatdropped. Which one should he choose?  
  
There was no way of knowing where the doors lead to unless he tried them out, he concluded. And since he already came from this side of the room, he should try one of the doors on the other side.  
  
He walked around the table and stood in front of the first door. Taking a deep breath, he slowly turned the knob and pulled open the door. It was another hallway. And thankfully, it was empty.  
  
Ginji entered the hallway and walked on.

* * *

Iarra blew on the blade of one of her daggers and wiped it with her remaining sleeve. She did the same thing with the other side of the blade, then looked at Ban out of the corner of her eye, who was sitting cross-legged beside her.  
  
Ban, who was recovering from the poison introduced into his system via a wrist cut, seemed to be deep in thought. He was leaning his left elbow on his knee and resting his chin on his left fist. He wanted to smoke, but Iarra told him that the nicotine wouldn't react well with the antidote, so he was stuck with drumming his fingernails on the floor.  
  
_Damn_, he thought. This was why he hated doing nothing. It made him think. It made him worried, actually, though he would never admit that to anyone. Yes, he was worried. About Ginji. Since he wasn't what people would call an optimist, his thoughts always turned to the worst possible scenarios.  
  
"Dammit", he muttered, clenching his fist as he stared at the improvised bandage on his wrist. If something happened to Ginji... he would know, right?, he reassured himself.  
  
"Hey", Iarra said.  
  
Ban turned his head to look at her.  
  
"Your partner", she said, glancing at him as she wiped another dagger. "He's the Raitei, right?"  
  
"WAS the Raitei", he corrected her.  
  
"Oh, right", she said, nodding. "He left the Volts years ago." She paused, then continued. "But even so, he's not exactly defenseless." She smiled at him. "He'll be alright."  
  
Ban stared at her. "How do you know so much about us?"  
  
She gave him another glance, then smiled as she continued to wipe her dagger. "Mido, when you're in this business, it's an advantage to know about different gangs in the cities that you're operating in, don't you agree?"  
  
"We're not a gang."  
  
She gave him an amused look. "I was talking about the Volts."  
  
"Oh." Ban glanced at the dagger in her hand, then at the now exposed tattoo on her left wrist. "You know, you remind me of someone", he commented.  
  
"Who?"  
  
"You've probably heard of him", he replied. "Big black hat, black coat, uses scalpels..."  
  
"Oh, please", Iarra said, rolling her eyes. "I am nothing like Dr. Jackal."  
  
"Ah, so you've met him?"  
  
"As whacked up as he is, he's still one of the best transporters around, so we hire him sometimes."  
  
He grinned. "I think you have a lot of things in common."  
  
"Oh yeah?", she turned to look at him. "Like what?"  
  
"Let's see...", he said, looking up at the ceiling and tapping his chin thoughtfully. "You both like wearing black. You both have tattoos. You both like sharp shiny objects, and you both like cutting people up with them.."  
  
"I do NOT like cutting people up!", she protested.  
  
"Okay, that's one difference between you and Dr. Jackal", he said, grinning again. "At least he admits he likes cutting people up."  
  
She turned her attention back to the dagger in her hand. "Just because I'm a smuggler doesn't mean that I'm a homicidal maniac."  
  
Her eyes took on a faraway look, and Ban felt like he had hit a nerve. He decided to change the subject and just find out all that he possibly could while they were sedentary. "Hey, Iarra."  
  
Snapping out of her melancholy, she said, "Yeah?"  
  
"Can I ask you something?"  
  
"You just did."  
  
He scowled, which made Iarra chuckle. "Seriously, can I ask you something?", he repeated.  
  
She saw the earnest look in his eyes, and stopped laughing. "What is it?"  
  
"What exactly happened between Dark Fleet and the Burning Dragons?"  
  
Iarra stared at her dagger for a long moment before replying. "Well, the Dragons have always been very...", she paused, searching for the right word. "... shrewd business partners." She snorted. "It's easier to deal with the Yakuza than with them."  
  
"You deal with the Yakuza?"  
  
She smiled at him. "We're smugglers, Mido. What do you think?" Then she continued, "But to make a long story short, we had several business deals with the Dragons that didn't turn out well. We became rivals instead of allies. And over time, the rivalry has turned personal."  
  
Ban thought about what she said, then remarked, "Don't you think killing each other is a waste of your time and your money?"  
  
"We do", she answered. "But as you can see, the Dragons don't see things that way." She sighed. "After what they've done today, I'm not sure what course of action the Fleet will take."  
  
"Maybe you guys should just let the Silver Claw deal with them", he said, watching her reaction.  
  
She turned her head at him. "That depends on Havoc."  
  
He cocked his head to her. "Does the Silver Claw do everything Havoc says?"  
  
She smiled. "Only Havoc can answer that."  
  
He snorted. "That Silver Claw is one heck of an elusive guy." He looked directly into Iarra's eyes. "Or GIRL."  
  
Iarra raised an eyebrow. "And your point is?"  
  
Still meeting her gaze, Ban asked, "Do you know who the Silver Claw is?"  
  
"Only Havoc knows who the Silver Claw is."  
  
"So he, or SHE, could be anyone."  
  
"Correct."  
  
"For all I know, I could be looking at the Silver Claw right now."  
  
She laughed. "So that's what you're getting at." She looked at him and smiled. "We've been through this before, Mido."  
  
"Well, you haven't exactly denied it, have you?"  
  
She smiled at him again. "If I were the Silver Claw", she said, emphasizing the word 'if'. "Do you think I'd admit it to you?"  
  
Ban's brows furrowed. "No."  
  
"So I guess you'll agree that this line of questioning is futile."  
  
He scowled. "If you're not the Silver Claw, why don't you just deny it?"  
  
"If I deny it, would you believe me?"  
  
Ban didn't reply.  
  
"I rest my case", she said, grinning. "Does your wrist feel itchy?"  
  
Ban glanced at his bandaged wrist. Now that she had mentioned it, it does feel itchy. "A little."  
  
"Good." At Ban's confused look, she added, "It means the antidote is working." She stood up and dusted herself off. "We should get going." Then she looked at Ban. "Whatever you do, do NOT scratch it."  
  
Ban stood up as well. "I still think you're the Silver Claw", he told her.  
  
"Think whatever you want." She turned, then started to walk in the direction that they were previously going.  
  
Ban turned to follow her. "I'm not gonna stop pestering you until you deny it."  
  
"Fine. I deny it."  
  
"That's not very convincing."  
  
"Okay. I un-deny it."  
  
He scowled at the back of her head. "This conversation's going nowhere."  
  
"Right. So why don't we just end it?"  
  
Ban scowled even more. "I'm gonna get my answers before this day ends, Dagger Babe. I promise you that..."  
  
Their voices trailed off as they walked deeper into the tunnel.

* * *

Ginji found a door at the end of the corridor he was in. He opened the door, entered the room, then sighed. The room was similar to the several other rooms that he had entered in the past twenty minutes.  
  
He was starting to get frustrated. Ban-chan always told him about his skill, or lack thereof, at directions. But he made an effort to keep track of his turns this time. And he was pretty sure that he had not been in this room before. Well, almost sure. The rooms all looked the same.  
  
He made his way to the door that he saw at one walls. He opened it, stepped out, and stopped in his tracks. Right at the center of the room was a long mahogany table that seemed very familiar. Slowly, he turned his head, and just as he thought, there was the Dark Fleet emblem and the Chinese saber at its center, just as he remembered it.  
  
He turned chibi right then. "Waaah! Ban-chan! Where are you???", he cried out, flailing his arms in despair.  
  
He flopped down on the floor and stared forlornly at the doors. _I wonder if Ban-chan is also having trouble getting out of this place_, he thought. _Probably not. He'll be mad if he finds out that I got lost again._ He sighed. _Well, the only thing to do now is to try another door_.  
  
He stood up, changing back into his normal form, then walked to the nearest door.  
  
He was about to open the door when he heard footsteps on the other side. He sweatdropped, and quickly turned to the door beside it. He opened it and stepped out just as more Chinese fighters entered the room.  
  
Thankfully, he was able to close the door just in time. He sighed in relief. He looked around to see where he was and realized that he was again faced with another predicament. There are two flights of stairs in front of him, one going up, and one going down.  
  
The muffled voices of the Chinese fighters urged him to move on, so he randomly chose the stairs that were going down. The stairs led him to another hallway, with a solid wall on the right, and several doors to the left.  
  
His very recent aimless wanderings had led him to a routine of opening a door, entering the room, then looking for another door, so that was exactly what he did. He chose a door and entered. This room looked like a typical jansoh (2), lined with several rows of kotatsus (3) on which rubber mats were placed to convert them into mahjong tables.  
  
As he closed the door behind him, he realized just what a mistake it was to follow a routine at a time like this.  
  
Two Chinese men in cotton kungfu suits, one in black and one in gray, looked up and stared at Ginji as he entered the room. Ginji froze.  
  
"Who are you?", the man wearing black demanded in Chinese.  
  
"Eh?", Ginji said as he turned chibi. "I'm sorry", he whimpered. "I don't speak Chinese."  
  
The other man in gray turned to his companion and said, still in Chinese. "It doesn't look like he's one of us."  
  
Ginji's mind raced. What could he tell them that would make them see that he's not an enemy? Then, like a light bulb suddenly turning on above his head, he got the idea that maybe he could start with the one Chinese greeting that he knew.  
  
"Kung hei fat choy! (4)", he said.  
  
The two men stared at him, then at each other. Then Black said, "He's definitely not one of us."  
  
Gray nodded at him. Then they turned their heads to Ginji with narrowed eyes.  
  
Ginji gulped. _Did I say it wrong?_, he thought.  
  
Then in perfect unison, they charged at him, yelling, "Ta! (5)" Gray kicked Ginji on the stomach, while Black struck Ginji's face with his fist.  
  
Ginji flew to the side of the room and hit his back on the floor with a thud. Groaning, he rolled to his side and pushed himself up.  
  
Gray lunged at him and aimed to chop at Ginji's throat with the side of his palm. Ginji crossed his arms over his face to block the attack, and sent volts of electricity to his attacker.  
  
Gray screamed in pain and dropped down to his knees.  
  
Ginji turned to the other fighter, who was currently glaring at him. He held his palms up in an effort to calm him down. "Please stop. I don't want to fight."  
  
Black paid no attention to his gesture of peace and charged. He brought his heel up to Ginji's head. Ginji ducked, spinned to move quickly behind Black, and grabbed his shoulder. Before he could electrocute him, Black grasped Ginji's arm and bent down, pulling Ginji and throwing him across the room.  
  
Ginji flew head first towards one of the mahjong tables. He somersaulted to avoid hitting his head, and ended up crashing with his back against the table, splitting the table in half. The impact knocked the wind out of him, causing him to cough involuntarily for air.  
  
He stood up shakily and slowly turned around to face Black. He was surprised to see Gray standing up too. Guess he was going to have to amp up the volts with these two. He stepped out of the remains of the mahjong table underneath him, and let electricity course through his veins. Small sparks danced around his body as he eyed them.  
  
Gray attacked first. With a loud yell, he ran towards Ginji and leaped in the air, his foot intending to strike Ginji on the face. Ginji moved out of the way. Just as he was shooting a jolt of electricity behind Gray's neck, Black lunged at him and brought the bottom part of his palm hard against Ginji's jaw. Using the same hand, Black grabbed his chin, intending to pull him down to the side.  
  
Apparently, Black wasn't aware that maintaining contact with an electric eel was not very wise. He shook violently as electricity passed through his hand into the rest of his body. He dropped down to the ground.  
  
Ginji felt somebody behind him move for another attack. _Gray's still standing?_, he thought, a little amazed. Quickly spinning around, he hit his attacker on the side of the head with his fist.  
  
A female voice gasped, making Ginji do a double take. It took a while before Ginji realized that Gray was still on the floor, unconscious. And the person that he hit was a girl.  
  
_Where did this girl come from?_, he wondered, confused. He noticed that the door was open. The girl had probably come in while he was preoccupied with Black and Gray.  
  
The girl was sitting on the floor beside Gray, using her hands to rub the side of her head where Ginji had hit her.  
  
"I'm very sorry!!", Ginji blurted out. He quickly knelt beside her. "Are you alright?", he asked worriedly. He held out his hand to take a look at her head.  
  
She swatted his hand away and glared. She then yelled at him in Chinese.  
  
Ginji sweatdropped. "Uhh.... Kung hei fat choy?", he said, trying out the greeting again.  
  
She stared at him, then glared again. With swift movements, she clawed at Ginji's cheek, rolled to the side away from him, and stood up in a kenpo stance.  
  
Stunned, Ginji touched his left cheek, where he felt a stinging sensation. His fingers told him he had three parallel scratches. He looked at his fingers and saw blood. _What did I say?_, he thought, more confused than ever. Maybe what Ban-chan had taught him was a curse word, and not a greeting. Yeah, that would explain why it seemed to make them all mad.  
  
He gazed up at the girl. It looked like she was sixteen, with her hair up in two buns at the top part of her head. She was wearing a black silk cheongsam (6) blouse with red dragon patterns, and black tight-fitting pants. She kind of reminded him of Ling Xiaoyu from Tekken.  
  
He stood up, clasped his hands together, and put up his most apologetic face. "I'm very sorry for hitting you. I didn't mean it. I thought you were that guy." He pointed at Gray.  
  
The girl followed his finger with her gaze, then she looked back at Ginji, her face visibly more angry.  
  
"No, no, no", Ginji shook his head, becoming more agitated. "I didn't mean that you look like that guy. You're obviously cuter. I mean..."  
  
His voice trailed off as the girl waved her palms in the air in different kenpo forms, and yelled a battle cry. She did a rapid series of attacks on Ginji, using her palms to chop and strike him in different places. Ginji blocked some and got hit by some. If this was a Tekken game, his life bar was decreasing. He blocked her kick and gave her a few volts, just enough to disable her temporarily.  
  
She fell against another mahjong table. She looked up at Ginji, stunned by the fact that the man standing before her could generate electricity.  
  
Ginji tried once more to pacify her. With big apologetic brown eyes, he said, "I'm sorry. Let's stop fighting. Please." He reached out to help her up.  
  
Apparently, big apologetic brown eyes did not work on this girl. She glared at Ginji and shoved his hand aside with her palm. Then standing up with her hands, she hurled her feet against his head. Ginji ducked and sent veins of lightning at her, which were blocked by the rubber mat that she had quickly picked up from a mahjong table.  
  
Ginji stared at her in awe. She was pretty good. Now that she had a shield, he would have a harder time shooting volts at her. But then, that also meant that she wouldn't be able to hit him as long as the rubber mat was in her hands. He was immediately corrected of that assumption when her foot shot up from under the mat and hit him on the stomach.  
  
He stumbled back and ended up seated on a mahjong table behind him. The girl gave him another kick on the head, which sent him rolling to his side.  
  
Ginji gasped to catch his breath. He gazed up at the girl in front of him, at her eyes peering over the rubber mat. It looked like he couldn't talk his way out of this one.  
  
He held his palm out and sent pulses of electricity at her legs, the only parts of her body that were not being protected by the mat. She easily leaped up to avoid his attacks. While in midair, she threw the rubber mat at Ginji's face.  
  
Ginji caught the mat. As he removed it from his face, he found himself looking up at the girl's heel. He rolled to the side just in time, feeling the wind from the girl's feet brush against his face as she landed next to his head. He grabbed her ankle and conducted waves of current at her ankle. She screamed as she dropped to the ground. Ginji sat up and watched her with concern in his eyes.  
  
She recovered quickly. Rolling away from Ginji, she stood up, and charged at him. Ginji caught her fist as it flew to his face. Then he grabbed her shoulder with his other hand.  
  
Looking directly into her eyes, Ginji said one last time, "I'm very sorry."  
  
She gasped as volts of electricity flowed from Ginji's hands and into her body. She gave Ginji a look of astonishment before she passed out.  
  
Ginji caught her as she fell, cushioning her head with his chest. Supporting her head with his hand, he carefully laid her down on the floor. Then he stood up, and surveyed the damage in the room.  
  
Several tables had been overturned. His three former opponents were down on the floor, unconscious, but otherwise okay. He touched his cheek where he felt the stinging pain from the scratch that the girl had given him. He should be more careful about entering strange rooms next time. With a sigh, he turned and walked out the door.

* * *

"Mido, don't you ever get tired of asking the same questions again and again?", Iarra asked exasperatedly.  
  
They had been walking in the tunnel for some time now, and thankfully, they had not encountered more traps so far.  
  
"No", Ban replied. "I can be very persistent." _Like this very irritating itch_, he thought, glancing at his wrist.  
  
"Look", she said, sighing. "I'm the only Dark Fleet agent that you've met so far. How can you be so sure that I'm the Silver Claw?"  
  
"I have information that the Silver Claw is after the Mikazuki Munechika. As far as I know, you're the only Dark Fleet agent assigned to get the sword."  
  
"Haven't you ever considered that your information could be incorrect?"  
  
"No. Our information has been correct in all aspects of the mission, so far."  
  
"So far", she repeated. "That's not proof that everything you know is correct, is it?"  
  
He glowered at her.  
  
"Besides, I'm not even considered the best fighter in Dark Fleet."  
  
He stared at her. "You're not?"  
  
"That look of surprise is very flattering, Mido", she said, grinning. "But the truth is, if you ask around as to who's the best fighter here, they're not gonna give you my name as an answer."  
  
He raised his eyebrows. _Is that so_, he thought. Then aloud, he said, "Then who is?"  
  
She replied. "A man named Gitsu. We hold friendly competitions here every now and then to test our skills. And he always wins."  
  
Ban thought about what she said. "Sounds like an interesting guy."  
  
She snorted. "He's one arrogant bastard. He's pretty good and he knows it." Then she turned to look at Ban. "You'd like him."  
  
He glared at her. "And what is that supposed to mean?"  
  
She laughed. "Nothing", she said.  
  
Before Ban could say come up with a retort, Iarra suddenly stopped. Before her, the tunnel divided into two branches. Ban noticed some markings on both the left and right walls of the tunnel.  
  
Iarra stared at the markings then pointed at the right branch. "This one leads to an exit, so I guess we're going this way." She turned to the right tunnel.  
  
"Finally", Ban remarked. "I thought this tunnel of misery would never end."  
  
He then turned to the right tunnel to follow Iarra. They walked on in silence, with Iarra carefully scrutinizing the walls and ceiling for more markers. Ban followed behind with his hands in his pockets, trying very hard to keep from scratching his damn wrist.  
  
They had walked a few meters when Ban suddenly grabbed Iarra's arm. Iarra turned her head to look at him questioningly.  
  
"I smell gunpowder", Ban said.  
  
Iarra took a good sniff. The scent of gunpowder was very faint, but it was there, alright. She looked at Ban, a little amazed at his keen sense of smell. "You're right." She frowned. "But we don't store gunpowder down here. It's too dangerous."  
  
Her gaze fell upon Ban's hand on her arm. Ban quickly let go and put his hands back in his pockets. "Are you sure this is the right way?", he asked.  
  
Iarra turned her head to look at the passage before her. "Well, the signs say the exit's this way." She looked back at Ban. "Do you think we should go back?"  
  
Ban raised his eyebrows. "You're the pathfinder. Not me."  
  
"You're a lot of help, do you know that?"

"Well, if something goes wrong, there's only you to blame", Ban said, grinning.

Iarra glowered at him, then stared back into the passage again, trying to decide whether to go forward or to go back. Making up her mind, she took a few steps forward, then stopped. She looked back at Ban again. "Keep your eyes open, okay?"  
  
"They're always open, Dagger Babe."  
  
Iarra started to walk ahead. A few feet away, she saw the Dark Fleet marker for the number 'five' on the right wall.  
  
_Five? Five what?_, she wondered.  
  
As she continued to walk, she saw another marker, this time for the number 'four'.  
  
She stopped and scanned the walls for any more markers. But that was all she saw. _That's strange_, she thought.  
  
A few feet away, she spotted the marker for 'three'. Then it was 'two'. She started feeling a little queasy. When she got to the marker for 'one', she stopped.  
  
_Five, four, three, two, one..._, she thought. Then her eyes widened as a horrifying thought dawned on her. _Oh, shit. It's a countdown._  
  
She suddenly turned around and yelled, "Go back! Now!"  
  
Ban stopped and stared at her, a little puzzled. The look in her eyes told him to obey now and ask questions later. They ran.  
  
They had only run a few steps when a loud explosion boomed from behind them, throwing both of them up in the air.

* * *

Notes: I think it's only fair that Ginji gets some action for a change :-) Let me just say that this has been the most difficult chapter to write so far. Man, it was really hard to find words to describe those kungfu moves. So if you don't get what I'm trying to describe, I'm so sorry. I tried my best.  
  
limelie: There are a lot of things in the real world that can tickle one's imagination :-) Hey, did I really torture you? :D  
  
yuhi-thedoerofevildeeds: Umm.. okay. Well, I'm trying to keep it shorter. I really am! But then I might cut out some details that would make the plot confusing, so... this is as short as I can get it to be.  
  
Effy: Wow, thanks! You just made my heart melt :-)  
  
blackangel123: Nice? Nahh... Getting on each other's nerves is more like it :D Actually, their seeming concern for each other is out of necessity. They need to keep each other alive :-) If you see hints, well, go ahead and see them :P  
  
lyfforreal: Awww... That's so sweet. Thanks! :-) You know, if this were an episode of GB, 'The Silver Claw' would be said like this: Da Si-ru-va Ku-ro.  
  
rabid lola: Actually, yes. I have a LOT of ideas for the traps. Mayumi-san is eeeevil. But, I'm trying to make the story shorter, so there isn't enough room for all of them :-s  
  
Neko-san: Thanks! Apparently, I'm good at torturing people. Just ask Ban ;-)  
  
(1) Yokohama Chukagai is the largest chinatown in Japan, located in central Yokohama at the south of Tokyo.  
  
(2) Jansoh is a mahjong parlour.  
  
(3) A kotatsu is a low table with a built-in electric heater.  
  
(4) This is the greeting used during the Chinese New Year, which is held around the beginning of February.  
  
(5) "Ta" means to strike first. This is one of the principles in Northern Praying Mantis Kungfu. I'm not sure if real kungfu fighters yell out their attacks, but hey, this is based on anime. So the fighters in this fic do ;-)  
  
(6) The cheongsam is a traditional Chinese dress for women, with a high collar, and button or frog closures near the shoulder. Himiko's top is similar to this.


	7. Hint of Betrayal

Disclaimer: I'm just a fan having fun with the characters created by Aoki and Ayamine. 

Notes: Conversations in **bold** indicate yelling. I've tried using all caps, but it hurt my eyes. So I decided to use bold font instead.

* * *

Ginji was walking along a dark corridor, when he heard the muffled sound of an explosion. He stumbled as the floor shook from underneath him. 

"Ban-chan", he said softly. "Please be alright."

* * *

Ban found himself lying on his back and staring up at the ceiling. The blurry ceiling. He blinked, then shook his head to clear the fog enveloping his vision. Slowly, the ceiling came into focus. He rolled to his side, then pushed himself up. He groaned as his body protested against the movement. 

_Dammit_, he thought. His whole body is aching, his wrist is itching, and to top it all off, his ears were ringing from the blast. He rubbed the back of his neck, then stared at the scene before him.

A few meters away, the tunnel ceiling had collapsed, causing a mountain of debris to block the way to the rest of the tunnel. He never imagined he would think the thought that was forming in his mind right now, but he hoped Iarra wasn't under that rubble. As much a pain in the butt as she was, he wouldn't have gone far on this hell of a tunnel on his own.

Quickly, he looked around. He spotted her face down farther away from the blast. She wasn't moving. He inhaled sharply.

_No way_, he thought. _She can't be..._

He rushed to her, and rolled her to her back. He sighed in relief. She was breathing, but she was staring blankly up at the ceiling, as if in shock.

"Oi! Iarra!", he shouted at her as he shook her hard.

Iarra blinked. The first things she saw as her eyes focused were spiky hair and glasses. She blinked again.

"M-m-mido?", she said shakily.

"Are you okay?", Ban asked her.

Iarra frowned in confusion. "Huh?"

"I said, are you okay?", he repeated.

She stared at him, then slowly shook her head. "What?", she asked.

_Good grief_, Ban thought. _Is she deaf?_

"**Are you okay?!**", he yelled.

Finally, a look of understanding passed over her face. "Yeah, I'm fine. What about you?"

Ban frowned then stared at her. After a long moment, he asked, "Did you say something?"

* * *

Ginji slowly opened one of the doors in the long corridor that he had been walking in. He carefully poked his head inside. Once he made sure that there was no one in the room, he got in, and closed the door behind him. 

The room had a small table to one side, and several boxes lined up on the walls. Curious, he walked over and lifted the lid on one of boxes and looked inside. His eyes opened wide at what he saw.

"Apples!", he exclaimed. He suddenly turned chibi and devoured the apples as fast as he can.

* * *

Iarra and Ban had no choice but to go back. They were both weakened by the blast, and they were both deaf. Well, temporarily, at least. But other than the bruises and scratches on various parts of their bodies, they were both okay. 

They reached the point where the tunnel branched out. Ban stepped up to the other branch, but was quickly blocked by Iarra's arm. He glared at her.

"I am NOT letting you lead me into another trap", he said.

Iarra was grateful for the fact that she could not make out a word that he said. _This temporary deafness thing has its advantages_, she thought.

Judging from the look on his face, she guessed that he was not happy about her being in the lead again after that blast. She raised an eyebrow.

"**Can you read the markers?**", she asked him loudly, almost yelling so that she can be sure that he heard her.

"**Well obviously, the ability to read those markers is not enough to keep us out of those stupid traps!**" Ban was definitely yelling. "**And a bomb, too! What the hell were you guys thinking using bombs as traps? Haven't you ever thought to use traps that WOULDN'T destroy your own tunnel?**"

"**We don't use bombs as traps, okay?**", Iarra yelled back.

"So what the hell was that?"

"**What?**", she asked, turning her ear to him.

"**I said, what the the hell was that?**", Ban repeated, louder this time.

"**What the hell was what?**"

"**THAT!**", he yelled as he pointed back to where they came from. "**The bomb! What the hell was that bomb if it wasn't one of your traps?!**"

She paused, then muttered, "I'm not sure."

"**What?**"

Iarra glared at him. "**I said, I'm not sure, okay?!**", she said, yelling again.

"**What do you mean you're not sure?!**"

"**I mean, I'm not sure!**" She sighed. All this yelling is making her exhausted. She took several deep breaths and noticed that Ban was doing the same.

"Look", Iarra began to say.

"**Huh?**"

She frowned at him, then said loudly, "**I know it hasn't exactly been safe so far**."

Ban snorted. "**You think?**"

Iarra glared, then continued, "**But believe me when I say that it would've been worse if I hadn't been able to read the markers. It would be best for you to stay behind me.**"

He glared at her, still a little unconvinced.

"**We can hardly hear each other, and we're both tired**", Iarra said. "**So can we PLEASE not argue about this right now?**"

Ban said nothing. Iarra took that as a sign of acquiescence. She sighed again, then stepped to the other branch of the tunnel.

They walked on in silence, with Iarra once again scrutinizing the walls for any markers. As she scanned the walls, her thoughts turned to the bomb that almost killed them. Dark Fleet had never used bombs as booby traps. Like what Mido said, it would destroy the tunnel. The most logical conclusion would be that the Dragons had set the bomb up. She would've believed that except for two things. One, the Dragons had no idea about the underground tunnels. But then, she surmised, that particular exit is probably not hard to find. So one possibility was that they found the opening to the tunnel, then rigged it with a bomb.

The second thing that kept her from believing that theory was the countdown etched on the wall. Whoever did that knew about the Dark Fleet markers. Not even all Dark Fleet agents knew how to read them, only the ones considered elite. She couldn't imagine how the Dragons managed to obtain that information. And even if they did, she couldn't understand why they would bother carving that countdown. It almost seemed... taunting. Like a pat on the back for somebody's ego. Somebody who knows about the tunnels and the markers.

_Does this mean...?_ She stopped in her tracks. _No..._ She shook her head, then continued walking. Agents became elite only after proving themselves of their skills and most importantly, their loyalty. _An elite agent CANNOT just suddenly decide to help the Fleet's most bitter enemy... Right?_

Ban watched Iarra as she walked, then stopped, shook her head, then walked again. Something was definitely on her mind. It seemed that the bomb had really shaken her up. She said something about Dark Fleet not using bombs. What did that mean? If Dark Fleet had not set up that bomb, then who had?

Iarra stopped again, then walked over to the right side of the tunnel where a small hole on the wall could be seen. It was at waist height and about a meter wide. She scanned the Dark Fleet markers above it, then looked inside. There was nothing to see but darkness.

"Hey, Mido", she said while still looking into the hole.

Ban didn't reply.

She turned her head to him, wondering what he's up to. She found him looking at her a few feet away, just watching. She frowned for a second, then sighed. "**Mido!**", she yelled.

"**What?**", he yelled back.

"**Can I borrow your lighter?**"

"**What for?**"

Iarra rolled her eyes. "**To light something?**"

Ban didn't find her answer amusing, but decided that it was a waste of time to bicker about it. Glaring, he took out his lighter from his pocket then tossed it at her. Iarra caught it, flicked it open, then used it to light the inside of the hole.

The hole was not cemented like the tunnel. Several rocks could be seen jutting out from all sides of the hole. Iarra held the lighter farther into the hole, and poked her head inside. The hole extended farther than what she could see. She then brought her knee up into the hole.

"You have GOT to be kidding me", Ban muttered.

She was about to lift her other knee up when Ban reached inside and grabbed her shoulder. She turned her head to look at him.

"**You can't be serious!**", Ban said.

"**Oh, but I am. This is the quickest way out.**"

He glowered at her. "**I am NOT getting into that hole.**"

She frowned, then a hint of a smile passed through her lips. "**You're not claustrophobic, are you?**"

"**Hell, no! But the last time you got me into a hole, I almost got impaled!**"

She frowned again. "**You almost got what?**"

Ban scowled at her. "**Impaled! And you would've been too if I hadn't gotten us out!**" Veins were now coming out of Ban's throat as he yelled. He inhaled deeply to catch his breath.

She gave him a lopsided smile. "**That's right.**"

"**Huh?**"

"**If something bad happens, you can always play hero and get us out.**"

"**What?!**" He almost strangled her.

She laughed. "**I'm kidding.**"

He glared at her. "**I'm so glad one of us finds this funny.**"

When her laughter subsided, she grinned at him. "**Mido, there are no traps in this hole. Does that make you feel better?**"

Ban felt like a child being reassured that there were no monsters under his bed, and it made him more irritated. He looked at her directly in the eye, then answered, "**No.**"

She chuckled. "**Well, I'm going in. It's up to you whether you want to follow me or not.**" She climbed in then proceeded to crawl inside, using the lighter as a mini-torch.

_Darn it_, he thought. He glared at Iarra's boots as they got into the hole. _Aargh._ He then hurried to get into the hole before Iarra disappears. As he grudgingly brought his knees up into the hole, he thought, _I'm gonna regret this. I just know it._

Iarra heard Ban scuffle behind her. She chuckled again. "**Mido!**"

They both squirmed as her voice became amplified by the walls of the hole, making it unnecessary for her to yell.

"Sheesh!", Ban protested. "Are you gonna make us both more deaf?"

"Sorry", she said, no longer yelling.

They were both crawling on their forearms and knees, with Ban's lighter as the only light source. Ban had to keep from hitting his shoulders on the sharp rocks that protruded from the sides of the hole. Looking ahead, the only thing he could see was Iarra's rear, which he didn't particularly mind.

"Anyway, glad to see you finally agree with me", Iarra was saying.

"I still don't."

"Oh? Then what are you doing here?"

"You have my lighter."

She chuckled again. "You could've just asked for it, you know."

Ban snorted. "Like you would've given it to me just because I asked."

Iarra rolled her eyes as she continued crawling. "I'm not gonna steal your lighter, Mido."

"Well, you HAVE stolen things before."

Iarra stopped and turned her head to glare at him. "Here", she said, reaching out to hand him the lighter. "Take your precious lighter, and go back. I'm just gonna go ahead without you."

Ban raised his eyebrows. "Even if you can't see a thing?"

"Hasn't stopped me before."

Ban stared at her, not quite sure if she was serious or just bluffing.

"Well?", Iarra said, irritation evident in her eyes. "Take it! What are you waiting for?"

_Nope, she's not bluffing_, he thought. For some reason, he found that fascinating. "Well, I'm already here, so I might as well just go all the way through."

Iarra rolled her eyes again, then turned her head forward, and started crawling.

"Besides", Ban continued. "I can't really complain about the nice view I have here."

The cramped space left him with no room to dodge the booted heel that went straight at his face.

* * *

Ginji laid down on the floor with a satisfied grin on his face. Some of the boxes contained bananas, some of them contained grapes, and some of them contained oranges. He ate all the fruits that he could until his stomach couldn't take it anymore. He stood up and took several fruits and stuck it into the pockets of his vest and his shorts. 

He thought happily, _Ban-chan's gonna be glad when he sees all this food._ Just then, his happiness turned to worry as he remembered his partner. _Ban-chan..._

* * *

Ban groaned as his palm landed on the sharp edge of a rock. 

"Be careful", Iarra said. "Some of the rocks are really sharp."

"Gee, thanks. I wouldn't have known that if you hadn't told me."

The hole had several branches, like a labyrinth for moles, Ban thought. Iarra seemed to know which branches to take. There were times when she would sometimes stop and examine some of the rocks before choosing a branch, so he guessed the rocks were some sort of markers. He noticed that the branches that Iarra took sloped upwards, so it looked like there were going the right way.

They had been crawling for several minutes when Iarra suddenly stopped, making Ban almost hit her rear with his head. He could hear Iarra cursing softly.

_What now?_, he thought.

He let Iarra finish letting out a string of expletives before saying, "Don't tell me. There's another trap that you forgot to tell me about."

She sighed. "No." In frustration, she sat on her heels and buried her face in her arms.

Ban saw what got her upset. A pile of rocks were blocking their way, making it impossible for them to pass through.

"Oh, great", he said. "If you're not leading me to a trap, you're leading me to a dead end."

"It's not supposed to be a dead end", Iarra retorted through gritted teeth.

"Oh, right. Like there's not supposed to be a bomb down here. Why don't you just admit that you took a wrong turn?"

"Because I didn't!", Iarra said, lifting her head and turning it to glare at him.

Ban looked at her for a long moment before saying, "First, the bomb. Now, this. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're being sabotaged."

There. Ban had said it. The thought that was forming in Iarra's mind that she had been trying to suppress. Yes, she knew that some lower-level agents had betrayed the Fleet in one form or another before, and the Fleet had always taken care of them. The Silver Claw made sure of that. _But an elite agent?_, Iarra thought, her brows furrowing. _ This is a first._

Ban expected a sharp retort from Iarra, but none came. Actually, he wasn't serious when he said they were being sabotaged. But looking at her face now, he realized that there might be a truth in what he had just said. In that case, the sooner they got out of this hole, the better. Who knows what other surprises the Dragons had set up?

"Oi", he said, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Shouldn't we go back and find another way?"

"Right", she replied, nodding. "Well, hurry up and crawl backwards so we can get out here."

Ban gave her another glare before complying.

_Crawling backwards on sharp rocks are not a fun thing_, Ban thought grumpily. Especially if the rocks were sloping downwards. And especially if the boots of the person in front of you would sometimes slip and step on your fingers. She would always apologize sweetly when that happened, but he couldn't help thinking if she was doing that on purpose. And man, he was dying to scratch his wrist. Well, at least his ears were no longer ringing.

They soon reached the end of the branch of the hole that they were in. Iarra paused, then chose another branch. They were both glad to be crawling forwards now. Even their hearing seemed to be back to normal again.

They crawled on, the only sound that could be heard were the soft crunching of small rocks as they crawled, and the sound of their breathing echoing through the walls.

They had already gone far when Ban suddenly heard Iarra mutter, "No, no, no, no, no."

Suddenly, the lighter died, and they were now engulfed in darkness. He then heard her flick the lighter several times, but nothing happened. He heard her curse.

He couldn't help but curse as well. He knew he should've refilled the lighter fluid.

"Mido", she said. "Your stupid lighter's not working."

He glared. "First, you hurl daggers at me. Then, you had thorns rain on my head. And then you made me slide down a rocky hole, only to get caught in a net while metal spikes aimed at me, ready to give me body piercings that I would rather not have! And would I forget to mention that poisoned dart? I don't think so! But wait! That's not all! There's also this small matter of a bomb almost killing me! As if that's not enough, you led me to this freaking mole-hole into a dead end, making me crawl backwards on all fours! And now you're insulting my lighter???!"

"Alright, I'm sorry!", Iarra said. "Geez. What's with you and that lighter?"

"None of your damn business."

"I'm gonna return your lighter as soon as we get out of here, okay? I can't give it you right now since I can't see you. I might accidentally shove it up your nose."

Ban snorted, then muttered, "Let's see you make those smart remarks after I shove your own daggers up YOUR nose."

"I heard that."

"I don't care."

Iarra sighed as she groped around and started to crawl again. No use arguing with Mido right now. She might need the energy for later.

Ban used the sound of Iarra's boots against the rocks to orient himself and to avoid bumping into her. If crawling backwards was bad, crawling in complete darkness was worse. So much worse. Plus, his knees were starting to get numb. As he brought one elbow in front of the other, he wondered how much torture he was gonna have to endure. This mission almost felt like it was one of those jobs HEVN would give them.

Iarra stopped as she felt a wall in front of her. _Oh no_, she thought. _Please don't let this be another dead end._

She quickly scanned her surroundings using her hands. There was nothing remarkable about the side walls. She felt upwards for the ceiling, and stopped. There was no ceiling. She pushed her torso up, and lifted her hand. Still no ceiling. Slowly, she tried standing up, and was surprised to find out that she could.

Ban's thoughts were interrupted when Iarra said, "It looks like we found an exit. Stay there while I check it out."

"You better be sure it's the real one this time. I've just about had enough of your false alarms", Ban said, straightening his knees so he could stretch and lie face down on the rocks.

Iarra held her hand up. She still couldn't feel the ceiling. She jumped as high as she could with her hand up. Still no ceiling. She groaned as she landed. _Darn it_, she thought.  This was one of those rare times when she wished she was taller.

"What are you doing??", Ban asked as he heard her boots land on the ground with a thump.

"I'm trying to get us out. Just stay there."

Ban frowned, but decided to wait and see what she was up to.

Iarra felt around the walls of the hole for any clue on how to climb up. Finding none, she lifted her right knee and took two of her daggers. She brought her knee down, then tapped her right heel twice. A small blade appeared in front of her right boot. She did the same with her left heel, bringing out the blade in her left boot.

She then plunged one of the daggers high up into the wall. Keeping her right hand on the embedded dagger, she jumped up and plunged the other one higher up with her left hand. She lifted her left knee and kicked at the wall, sticking the small blade deep into it. She let her weight fall on her left boot, straightening her knee as she took her right dagger and plunged it higher.

She continued to climb up, using the daggers and the blades to support her. It didn't take long before her head hit something hard.

"Ouch!", she groaned.

"Oi!", Ban called out. Iarra's voice seemed to be farther than what he had expected. "What's going on?"

Iarra left one of her daggers on the wall and used her hand to rub the sore spot on her head. "Stay there! I might fall and land on you."

_Land on me??_, Ban thought. "Where the hell are you?"

Iarra didn't reply, but used her hand to feel upwards to see what had hit her head. It felt like very thick wood. She pushed upwards and was startled by light as it shone down on her face.

As her eyes adjusted to the brightness, she saw that the thick wood that hit her head was some kind of trapdoor. She sighed in relief. She looked down to see Mido already poking his head out of the hole that she came from, curious about the source of light. She grinned at him as he looked up at her.

"We're finally gonna get out", she said.

"It's about time", Ban replied.

She got her head out the trapdoor and looked around. "Stay here until I make sure the coast is clear", she told him. She squeezed her torso up. As she leaned on the edge, she pulled out her daggers out of the wall, then pushed the rest of her body up.

The trapdoor closed as her feet passed through, and Ban was once again surrounded by darkness. He crawled out of the hole, stood up, and waited for her to open the door.

* * *

Ginji closed the door behind him. He was in another room. Unlike the other rooms that he had gone through, this one was empty, with a single window right across from him. He decided to look outside to see where he should be going. 

The wooden floorboards creaked as he stepped across the room. Just then, he heard a commotion right outside the window. He stopped, got down on his knees, then crept towards the window.

When he got there, he slowly brought his head up to look at what was causing the noise outside. He gulped as he saw more Chinese fighters running around on the ground below.

* * *

Ban stared up at the door. Damn, it was taking her a longer time that he would've preferred. His neck was beginning to ache.  Without thinking, his left hand moved to his right wrist and he started to rub the itchy spot.  As soon as he realized he was scratching his wrist, he stopped then cursed.  _When will this damn itch end?_, he thought.  He then glared upwards.  _And how long does it really take to make sure that the coast is clear?_

Ban sighed.  _Oh great_. Maybe this was what she was planning all along. Leave the tunnel, then trap him in it. Yeah, that must be it. He should've known not to trust her. What the hell was he thinking following a smuggler? Of course, she would only lead him to a trap. He narrowed his eyes. Oh, she would pay. She would realize that making a fool out of the Invincible Mido Ban-sama was a very big mistake.

Just when he was thinking of jumping up and breaking the trapdoor, it suddenly opened, and Iarra peered inside. Ban squinted as light blinded his eyes.

"Sorry it took so long", she said. "I had a little trouble finding the handle to this thing." She pointed her head at the trapdoor.

She looked down at the hole and estimated that it was about fifteen feet deep. She looked at Ban and asked, "Do you think you can jump this high?"

Ban stared up at her. The light behind her made it hard to see her face. So he was mistaken. She really was going to help him get out.

"Hey", she said when Ban didn't answer. "You alright?"

He replied, "Get out of the way."

She smiled, then moved to the side, holding the door open all the way. Then with a giant leap, Ban flew through the door and landed on his knee next to Iarra. She closed the door, which Ban noticed was camouflaged with several leaves. He looked around and realized that they were now outside in some kind of forest, where they were surrounded by tall trees and various kinds of bushes and crawling plants.

"Here", Iarra said, handing him his lighter.  "Before you accuse me of stealing it."

Ban just looked at her in the eyes as he took it from her, and said nothing.

Iarra crept closer to the bushes that were hiding them and peered through. The ground sloped downwards a little farther away, where she could see several Dragons. A lot of them were running around, making it seem like they were preparing for something.

_What could they be up to now?_, she thought. _They must've destroyed most of the fortress by now._

She shifted her eyes to the building behind them. She gasped as she spotted a blonde head looking out of one of the windows of the building.

"Well, I'll be damned", she muttered.

* * *

Notes: You know you're taking a long to update your fic when it's no longer in the first page :-) I'm so sorry this took so long. I'm gonna try to update faster than this next time. 

EffyDurach: Whew! I'm so happy that last chapter isn't as confusing as I was afraid it would be. Thanks!

limelie: You're Chinese? Cool! :-) Glad you found it funny :-)

Rabid Lola: Two smart-alecks having to work together can be quite fun ;-)


	8. Back Together

Disclaimer: The Get Backers still ain't mine. 

Notes: In this fic, I'm assuming Ban is not fluent in Chinese. If I'm mistaken and it turns out that he DOES know how to speak in Chinese, let's just assume he knows Mandarin, and the Burning Dragons speak Cantonese hehehe...

* * *

"Hey, Mido", Iarra said, as she turned her head to Ban. 

Ban looked at her and found her staring at him. "What?"

Not taking her eyes off him, she said, "Bright blue."

"Huh?"

"They're really bright blue. I've always been curious ever since I've heard about them, but I never thought that they'd be this blue."

Ban frowned in confusion. "I have no idea what you're babbling about."

"Your eyes", she said. Then she smiled. "It's the first time I've seen them in broad daylight." Before Ban could react, she quickly turned her head back to the scene before her. "Anyway, check this out."

Ban raised an eyebrow, then crawled next to her. "Check what out?"

"See that building over there?"

He turned his gaze to the five-storey building ahead of them. "Yeah. What about it?"

"Look at the second window from the top right."

Ban did as he was told, and caught his breath in his throat as he saw blond spikes by the window. _Those blond spikes are definitely Ginji's._

Just then, Ginji hid his head down the window. After a few seconds, Ban and Iarra could see him slowly raising his head and peering down at the Dragons below. Then his head disappeared again, only to reappear a few moments later.

"What the hell is he doing?", Ban asked, more to himself than to Iarra.

Iarra shrugged. "He's probably looking for you", she replied. Then she chuckled. "Or he's probably just lost", she joked.

"Probably both", Ban muttered.

She looked at Ban, not quite sure if he was serious or not. She raised an eyebrow when she saw that he was serious. She turned her head back to Ginji and remarked, "Lost or not, your partner must be one hell of a lucky guy."

Ban turned to her. "What do you mean?"

"The room that he's in... It used to be Havoc's office."

Ban waited for her to continue. When she didn't, he frowned and asked, "And that's lucky because...?"

Iarra smiled. "It's bulletproof. Plus it has an entrance to secret passageways inside the building."

Ban stared at her, processing this bit of information that Iarra gave. "What's the best way to go from here to that room?"

She thought for a moment, then answered, "Underground."

He snorted. "Okay. What's the second best way to go from here to that room?"

She snickered. "Well, we could go around the Dragons, and hope they don't detect us."

"'We'? 'Us'?", he repeated, then he shook his head. "Dagger Babe, you can stay here or go to your smuggler friends. I don't really care. But I'M gonna go there ALONE. Without you. Solo. By myself. Do you understand?"

She glared at him. "And when you get there, what are you planning to do? Huh? Get out of here? How? Do you even know the way out?"

He glared back. "Why are you helping us to get out, anyway? I find it hard to believe that it's out of the goodness of your heart."

"Well, it's not", she retorted. "Like I told you before, I have orders to keep you alive."

"Well, I don't plan on dying today, so you can just scram and tell your boss that you've done your duty."

"You're far from being safe, Mido. As much as I would like to get you off my back, I can't. I'm just as unhappy about that as you are."

Ban glared at her one more time before turning his head back to Ginji. There's no use in wasting time arguing with her. He had to get to Ginji as soon as possible. He would just have to somehow lose her later.

He got out his cellphone from his pocket, and quickly opened the flip.

Iarra snorted. "Good luck finding a signal out here."

Ban looked at the display on his phone, and scowled. "Man, I didn't know we're THAT far off from civilization." He looked at Iarra. "But then again, I should've realized that since the people here aren't exactly what you call civilized."

She glared at him, then looked quickly around. "Well, I could say the same thing about my present company."

She spotted a plant with large leaves a few feet away. She crawled to the plant, picked one of the leaves, and crawled back. She then pulled one of her daggers from her boot, then extended its handle as well as the leaf to Ban.

"Here", she said. "Write him a note."

"What?", he asked, confused.

"Write him a note", she repeated.

"I heard you the first time", Ban said, scowling. "What do you mean by 'Write him a note'?"

She sighed exasperatedly. "Use the dagger to etch on this leaf whatever you want to say to him."

Ban stared at her doubtfully.

"Don't you want to send a message to your partner?", she asked, her eyebrows raised.

"Yeah", he replied. "But I don't see how..."

"Mido", she said firmly, interrupting him. "Just write your damn message."

Glowering at her, he took the dagger and the leaf. He thought for a moment of what he wanted to say, that started writing. When he was done, he looked up from the leaf and handed the dagger back to Iarra. "Now what?"

"Give me that", she replied, taking the leaf from him and folding it into a small rectangle-like shape. She stuck it to the tip of her dagger, and pulled it down the blade until it reached the hilt.

Then she turned her head back to the window where Ginji's head could be seen. She scanned the ground below her, and mentally calculated the distance between her current location and the window. She looked back at the window, and focused. With her brows furrowed in concentration, she hurled the dagger. It flew upwards, its trajectory sending it way over the Dragons' heads, and straight into the window. The speed of the dagger's flight made it undetectable to the Dragons.

Iarra turned to Ban, grinning smugly. "Text messaging, Dark Fleet style", she said, then winked, to which Ban rolled his eyes. She looked up and noticed a group of dark clouds in the distance. It looked like it was going to rain. She turned to the right and started crawling. "Let's go."

* * *

Ginji lowered his head from the window, and sat on the floor. He wondered what those Chinese fighters were up to now. For the past few minutes, he had been trying to see where they were coming from. He figured that since they came from outside, the direction where they came from would most likely be the way out. 

He started to raise his head again up the window, when something went flying through the window over his head. The object landed a few feet away. He sweatdropped when he noticed that the object that missed his head by only a few inches was a dagger.

Its tip stuck to the floor, and Ginji noticed something on its blade. He crept closer and saw that it was a folded leaf. He pulled the dagger out of the floor and slid the leaf out of the blade. He unfolded it and saw a short note scrawled inside.

_Stay where you are.   
I'm gonna come and get you.   
- Ban_

His eyes widened. "Ban-chan?" He then turned chibi, held a fan in one of his hands and the note in the other, and broke into a dance. "Yey! Ban-chan's gonna come and get me! Ban-chan's gonna come and get meeee!"

* * *

Ban emerged from the bush that he was hiding in, and ran swiftly to hide behind a tree. Iarra was behind the tree ahead of him. They had been darting from behind the trees and bushes surrounding the Dragons in an effort to keep themselves from being detected while making their way to the building where Ginji was. So far, they had been successful. 

They were nearing the back entrance of the building when Iarra heard Ban grunt behind her. She turned to him and gasped as she saw him being pinned face down to the ground by a Dragon twice his size. Iarra saw him reach back. With a great display of brute strength, he yanked down his attacker's arm, pulling the Dragon down on the ground. He formed a fist with his right hand, and as soon as the Dragon's face landed next to him, hit him hard on the nose with it.

Ban disentangled himself from the fallen Dragon, and stood up, adjusting his glasses as he turned to see Iarra watching him.

"Where the hell did he come from?", she demanded, worry evident on her face. She hoped the rest of the Dragons didn't hear that small scuffle.

Instead of answering, Ban's eyes widened. "Look out!"

"Umph!", Iarra exclaimed as a man suddenly dropped down from the branches above her and landed on her. She then found herself in the same position Ban had been a few moments ago, face down and pinned to the ground. She struggled to reach into her left boot, pulled out a dagger, and plunged it into the man's left arm.

"Aaaahh!", the man screamed.

Glaring down at her, he pulled out a handgun and pointed it at her head. He felt a rush of wind brush against him as he pulled the trigger, and was surprised when his arm moved to the right, missing her completely. He frowned, confused at what caused his arm to move. He then gasped as he noticed Ban standing next to him, peering down at him over his glasses, with his hands in his pockets. The Dragon frowned some more, wondering how Ban managed to suddenly appear next to him within a span of a second.

"Guns are for cowards", Ban said. He suddenly grabbed the gun from the Dragon's hand and hit him on the head with its butt, sending the Dragon to the ground on top of Iarra.

Ban rolled the Dragon off of her, then said to her, "Did that answer your question?"

Iarra looked up at him, then at the scene behind him, and widened her eyes. "Oh, shoot. They must've heard us."

Down below, Dragons were looking up at their direction. Thankfully, the shadows from the trees hid them from view. Iarra stood up quickly, grabbed Ban's arm and started running, pulling Ban with her.

"Oww!", Ban protested as he felt her fingernails dig into his arm. "I can run on my own, you know!"

She let go as they reached one of the side doors of the building. She opened the door and entered, with Ban following after her. A group of Dragons soon arrived at the spot in the woods where they previously were, and saw the two sleeping Dragons on the ground.

Iarra ran into the corridors, quickly turned right into a flight of stairs, and started climbing up, with Ban right at her heels. When she got to the last step to the fourth floor, she heard the sound of footsteps on the fourth floor hallway and stopped. Unfortunately, Ban was too close behind her to properly adjust to her sudden change in movement. He bumped into her, sending both of them crashing down to the floor.

"Mido! What the hell..?!", Iarra yelled from under him.

"Why do you always, ALWAYS, have the habit of suddenly hitting on the brakes??!", he yelled back.

"Just shut up and get off of me!!!"

Iarra and Ban then noticed five Dragons staring at them, and sweatdropped.

"Oh, great", Iarra muttered.

One Dragon quickly recovered from his surprise and pointed a rifle at them. "Stop right there!", he said in Chinese.

"Thank goodness you're here", Iarra said, also in Chinese. "We were looking all over for you."

"What the hell are you telling them?", Ban hissed at her.

"Just trust me and follow my lead", Iarra whispered back in Japanese. "Now can you please get off me now?"

Ban slowly stood up. Iarra stood up after him.

"Looking for us? Why?", the man demanded in Chinese.

"I have a message for you", Iarra replied in Chinese.

"A message?", another man asked. "From who? And why didn't he just use the communicators?"

"This isn't a standard message", Iarra said.

"What do you mean?", the first man asked, lowering his rifle. "What is the message?"

"Well", she said, slowly lifting her knee. Then with a burst of speed, she pulled out two of her daggers and yelled, "Go back to hell where you belong!!!"

With her knee still up, she suddenly hurled the daggers at two of the men. Ban took that as a cue and lunged at the other men, hitting two of them on the head. He then grabbed the last man's face and threw him to the wall.

The daggers flew back to Iarra's hands. She placed them back into her boots, then finally lowered her foot back down on the ground. She surveyed the men on the floor, then grinned as she said, "Well, that wasn't so hard."

"I'd love to stay and gloat, but can we go now?", Ban said.

She walked towards the first man. She took the communicator from his belt and placed it into one of the pockets of her jumpsuit, then replied, "Yeah, sure."

She then went back to the flight of stairs and continued climbing. Ban followed her, then quickened his pace. He overtook Iarra, and continued climbing, almost running up the stairs.

"Hey, wait up!", Iarra said as she tried to catch up with him.

Ban reached the fifth floor and turned left to the corridor. He ran, ignoring Iarra's voice behind him.

"Oi, Mido!", Iarra called out to him. "Do you even know where we're supposed to go?"

Oh yeah. He knew exactly where Ginji was.

* * *

Ginji sat at one of the corners of room and hugged his knees. Ban-chan was taking a pretty long time. 

After he read the note, he had looked out the window at the woods outside, trying to figure out where his partner could have been when he threw the note. But as he scanned the hills, the trees and the shrubs in the area, he decided that it was futile. There were a million places where Ban could be coming from. The only thing to do now was wait.

Just then, the door to the room suddenly opened. Ginji tensed up, sparks of electricity starting to run around his fingertips.

Ban barged into the room, followed by Iarra, who closed the door behind her.

Ban raised an eyebrow. "This... was Havoc's office?", he asked as he surveyed the empty room.

"Ban-chan!", Ginji suddenly called out. He ran to Ban and lifted him up as he twirled around. "Ban-chan! Ban-chan! Ban-chan! I'm so glad to see youuu!"

"I'm so glad to see you, too, Ginji. Now put me down!", Ban said.

Ginji complied, then turned to chibi form. "Ban-chaaaaan!" He jumped up, rode on Ban's shoulders, and started waving his arms and legs in a cheer-like dance. "I'm soooo happy you're okay. I was soooo worried!!"

"Worried? Baka! Why in the world should you be worried? Have you forgotten that I'm the Invincible Mido Ban-sama?"

Iarra stared at the two retrieval agents before her. _Those two... are very... unusual_, she thought. First, she was amazed when Ban stopped at the door to Havoc's old office and went right in, like he really knew where he was going. And now... Well... Now the Raitei was dancing on his shoulders.

"No, but..." Ginji was saying. He noticed the many, many cuts and bruises on Ban's face and arms, and said, "Just look at you, Ban-chan! You look terrible!"

"Gee, thanks. Maybe you should compliment my stylist right there", Ban said pointing at Iarra.

"Iarra-chaaaaan!", Ginji exclaimed, which made Iarra jump in surprise. He climbed down from Ban's shoulders and hopped over to her. "I was worried about you, too!" He leaped up and Iarra caught him under his arms.

She stared at the doll-like version of the guy formerly known as Raitei in her hands, her mouth wide open.

Ginji noticed Iarra's torn sleeve, the several holes in her jumpsuit, her dissheveled hair, and various scratches on her arms, then fired questions at her one after the other. "You look just as bad as Ban-chan. Are you alright? What happened to you when we got out of the Karekawa mansion? You suddenly disappeared. Did Dark Fleet get you, too? How did you escape? And how did you end up with Ban-chan?"

"Wait a minute", Iarra interrupted him. "You were worried about me because you think Dark Fleet got me??!"

Ginji nodded. "Uh-huh."

"Awww, that's so sweet", Iarra said, an amused smile on her lips. "Stupid. But sweet."

"Eh?", Ginji said, confused.

Ban burst out laughing. "You really are an idiot."

Iarra started to laugh as well. Ginji looked from Ban to Iarra and back to Ban. "Ne, Ban-chan? What's going on?"

"Baka! She's the one who threw the daggers at us and got us into this hell in the first place", Ban answered him.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"She's from Dark Fleet, you idiot!"

"What?!", he turned his head back to Iarra.

"I'm afraid that's true", she said.

"Aaah!!", Ginji yelled, jumping down from her hands and running back to hide behind Ban's leg.

Iarra glared at him. "Will you please stop yelling and be quiet? Do you want the people outside to hear us??"

"Ban-chan", Ginji whimpered. "She's scary."

Ban stooped down, picked Ginji up by the hair, and held Ginji in front of his face. "Scary? Naahh. She's more annoying than scary."

Iarra just rolled her eyes and started walking across the room. She picked up the dagger that she used to send the note, then continued towards the window. "Seriously, Amano, how do you stand your partner?"

She kneeled down in front of the window, then raised her head to peer at the Dragons below. She lowered her head, then pulled the communicator from her belt.

Ginji stared at her, not sure whether to answer her question or not. He turned back to his normal form, and asked, Ban-chan, if she's from Dark Fleet, why is she with us?"

"Good question", Ban said, turning to Iarra. "Care to answer that one?"

Iarra sighed. "Here we go again", she said exasperatedly. "I told you. I have orders to keep you alive." She turned the communicator on, adjusted the tuner, listening for the right channel. "So until I'm sure that you two are safe, you're both stuck with me, whether you like it or not."

Ginji looked at Iarra, then at Ban, smiling. "She's not so bad, Ban-chan."

Ban stared at his partner incredulously. "Are you serious? You're not actually buying what she's saying, are you?"

Ginji looked back at Iarra. "I think she's telling the truth."

Iarra looked up to meet Ginji's gaze, and smiled. "Thank you." Then she glared at Ban. "I think your partner has more sense than you."

"Tch", Ban snorted. "He's just more forgiving than I am." He turned to his partner. "C'mon, Ginji. Let's go."

"I would strongly advise you two not to leave just yet", Iarra said, listening closely to the communicator in her hand, where faint Chinese-sounding garbles could be heard from.

"And why is that?", Ban asked.

"The Dragons have surrounded this building", she answered. "If you would just wait and let me find out more about their whereabouts and what they're up to, your chances of getting out of here alive will significantly increase."

"Wait? You're asking me to wait?!", Ban asked, then snorted. "I don't think so. Let's go, Ginji."

"Ban-chan, maybe we should listen to her", Ginji said.

"What?! Whose side are you on, anyway?"

Ginji smiled sheepishly. "Well, she's the one who knows the most about what's going on. We can just stay here for a few minutes. Here..." He took out an apple from his vest pocket. "Want an apple?"

"No, I don't want an apple", Ban answered exasperatedly.

"How about a banana?", Ginji asked, taking out a banana from another one of his pockets.

"Ginji", Ban said, gritting his teeth. "I don't want to eat. I just want to get out of here."

"Aren't you hungry?"

Ban glared. "That's not the point!"

"Shit!", Iarra suddenly uttered.

Ban and Ginji turned to look at her. She was listening intently to the communicator, her brows furrowed in worry.

"What's going on?", Ban demanded.

Iarra didn't reply as she was concentrating hard on the device in her hand. Ginji handed Ban the banana, and Ban grudgingly took it. He WAS pretty hungry. He hadn't eaten since the night before.

Ginji then walked over to Iarra and knelt in front of her. "Here", he said, handing Iarra the apple.

Iarra looked up at him with a start. Her eyes fell on the apple. "Uhh... Thanks, Amano", she said as she accepted it, surprised at the thoughtful gesture.

Ginji sat down in front of her. "Call me Ginji."

She looked up again. "Okay", she said, then smiled. "Ginji."

Ginji watched as she took a bite then continued to listen to the communicator. "I have another banana, if you want."

Iarra looked back at the blond retriever, and smiled again. "Thanks, Ginji, but this apple's fine." Then she noticed the three parallel scratches on Ginji's cheek. She reached out and held his chin, turning itso she couldexamine the scratches. "Where'd you get these?"

He answered, "I had an encounter with this Chinese girl."

She dropped her hand from his chin and said, "That was Lily."

Ginji looked at her, puzzled.

She smiled. "She's got killer nails." She took one of the beads from her hair stood on her knees. "Look up", she ordered him.

Ginji obeyed. Iarra squeezed a few drops of liquid from her bead to the scratches. "This'll keepthem from being infected", she explained.When she was done, she placed the bead back into her hair.

"Thanks, Iarra-chan", Ginji said.

"No problem", she answered. She then sat back down and continued listening to the communicator. She sighed. "It's worse than I thought."

"What is?", Ginji asked.

"They're installing bombs all over the place", she answered, weariness evident in her voice. "They're gonna blow everything up."

Ban raised his eyebrows as he threw the banana peel on the floor. "Doesn't that mean that we should go now?"

Iarra held her index finger up. "Wait", she said, continuing to listen.

Ban walked over to Ginji and Iarra. He could hear the sounds from the communicator in her hand. It sounded like somebody, or somebodys, giving orders. He wasn't fluent in Chinese. But he could understand bits and pieces. Listening closely, he could make out the Chinese words for '2 hours', 'dead', 'destroy', 'prisoners'. Wait a minute.

"Prisoners?", he asked in Japanese.

Iarra looked at him, her face grim. "Yeah, they captured some of the Fleet agents. They're being held in the next building."

She then turned the communicator off, sighed, then rested her head on her knees, thinking hard on what her next course of action should be.

"Oi!", Ban said. "This is not the time to sleep."

Slowly, she looked up at Ban, then at Ginji. She knew now what she should do. "Look, they're setting up bombs to be triggered at about 2 hours from now."

"All the more reason to start moving right now", Ban interrupted.

She held her hand up, the serious look in her eyes silencing him. She took a deep breath, then said, "The Mikazuki Munechika is in one of the rooms in this very building."

Ban and Ginji's eyes widened.

"And I would hate for it to be destroyed as well", she continued.

* * *

Notes: This chapter is the beginning of the end. To answer Effy and Rabid Lola's question, there are still some things that will happen, so I'm estimating that this fic will still have about three or four more chapters. 

limelie: Yep, they're back :-)

EffyDurach: I don't mind long reviews :-) Interesting theory you have there. But of course I'm not gonna tell you if you're right hehe:P I'm gonna take your advice into consideration. I might make a prequel to tell Iarra's background, and since she hasn't met the Get Backers yet, I can't really post that story under the GB category, so thanks for telling me where I could post it :-)

rabid lola: Don't worry about Ban's wrist. I just wanted to annoy him. The worst that could happen is that he would get a nasty scar hehe :-)

AmethystRainGrl123: Is this fast enough? :-)


	9. Get Back the Mikazuki Munechika! Again

Disclaimer: Question: Who owns the Get Backers? Answer: not Mayumi-san

* * *

Ban and Ginji stared at Iarra. Finally, Ginji asked, "What do you mean, Iarra-chan?" 

"Two hours is enough time to get it back", Iarra said in reply.

Iarra stood up and started walking to the left wall of the room.

"Wait a minute", Ban said. "Are you saying you're gonna help us get it back?"

"Yes", she replied, reaching the left wall. She pushed at a one of the wood panels on the wall with her palm.

"You stole it from us, and now you're helping us get it back. Somehow that doesn't sound right to me."

She sighed. "We won't be able to deliver the sword to our client, Mido." The wall then swung forward, revealing a narrow hallway behind it. She looked at the display on the communicator in her hand. The time said 10:03. That means we have to be out of here by 12:03. "Better for it to end up in your hands than to be blown up with the rest of this place."

She stepped inside and motioned for the retrieval agents to follow her. Ginji walked into the hidden hallway, followed by a reluctant Ban. Once they were all inside, she pressed a button on the wall next to her. The swinging wall then closed behind them.

Iarra started walking forward, and the two retrievers followed. The hallway was about two feet wide, with bare walls on both sides, and lit by dim circular light fixtures on the ceiling.

"Won't you get into trouble when your boss finds out what you're doing?", Ban asked, smirking.

"I'm sure he'll understand, given our circumstances right now", she answered.

"Yeah, but don't you see this as a failure on your part? I mean, you stole the sword, only to give it back." He was chuckling now.

Iarra stoppped and turned to look at him. "My job was to take the sword, which I did, while capturing the Invincible Retrieval Duo in the process. My orders do not cover what happens to the sword after that. My orders right now are to keep you two alive, which I'm successful at, so far. So no, I don't think this is a failure."

Ban grinned. "Well, I guess we see things differently, then. Because I see this as a failure."

She glared at him. "Mido, if you don't go around pissing people off, will you shrivel up and die?"

Ginji, caught between the crossfire, held his hands up. "Hey, stop fighting", he pleaded. "We only have two hours, remember?"

She smiled at Ginji. "You know, at first I thought the Get Backers were a couple of pigheaded assholes. I guess I was wrong. Turns out there's just one."

Ban glared at her. "Are you calling me a pigheaded asshole?"

She turned to him, and smiled slyly. "I didn't say it was you."

He lightly pushed Ginji to the side, and looked her straight in the eye as he stepped up to her. "Well, it certainly looked like you were referring to me."

She took a step towards him, meeting his gaze. "Ahh, so you know that you're a pigheaded asshole?"

He closed the distance between them, holding his chin straight up so he could look down on her. "Better to be a pigheaded asshole than a depraved lunatic."

"I agree", she said. "But it's much worse if you're both."

Ginji had turned to chibi mode now. "Hey, guys. Stop it. Please?"

The two continued to glare at each other. Suddenly, Iarra chuckled.

"What's so damn funny?", Ban asked irritatedly.

She stopped, then looked up at him. "I can see your nose hairs from here." She grinned, then turned around, chuckling as she started to move forward.

Ginji started snickering, but stopped immediately when he saw the murderous look his partner was giving him.

* * *

They had been walking along the hallway for some time now when Iarra spotted a ladder about seven feet high on the left side of the wall. At the top of the ladder was a small opening. She started climbing when Ginji asked, "Ne, Iarra-chan. I've been wondering... Why did you capture us?" 

"Yeah, Iarra. Why?", Ban repeated.

She stopped climbing, glared at Ban, who was raising an eyebrow, then looked at Ginji's earnest expression. She sighed, then replied as she continued to climb. "An enemy of yours is a client of ours, and he wants to get his hands on the two of you. They don't want to spend a big deal of their money to actively pursue you, so we had a deal. If we ever come across the Get Backers, we're gonna hand them over."

She reached the hole at the top of the ladder, and slid inside.

Ginji climbed up after her, frowning. When he reached the hole, he looked inside and found a very wide attic-like enclosure, with several dim light bulbs illuminating the wooden floor and walls. He could see the concrete beams supporting the building as they extended from the floor to the roof. Iarra was sitting a few feet away, leaning on one of the beams, her head touching the roof.

He slid through the hole and crawled towards her. Pretty soon, Ban poked his head through the hole and looked around.

"We're above the ceiling right now", she said. "So try not to make too much noise."

As Ban climbed inside, Ginji turned to Iarra and asked, "Who's after us, Iarra-chan?"

She snickered. "You mean you've made so many enemies, you have no idea who's after you?"

Ginji just blinked at her.

"Well, I'm sorry", she said, smiling lopsidedly. "But we don't reveal our clients' identities." She turned around and started crawling. "You know, I could've easily gotten the sword a long time before you guys even set foot in the Karekawa mansion."

Ginji and Ban followed her as she continued, "But when I heard that the Get Backers are coming to get it.... Well.." She turned her head at them and smiled slyly. "I couldn't pass up the chance."

"Hey, how come you answered his questions?", Ban protested. "I asked the same things, but you never told me anything."

She grinned at Ban. "Well, he asked nicely." She chuckled as she continued to crawl.

"Damn girl", Ban muttered. "I swear, Ginji, once we get that sword, I'm gonna strangle her. And don't you dare stop me."

"But, Ban-chan", Ginji said. "She's not that bad. She IS helping us, right? Besides, she's so cute."

"She's so cute??", Ban asked, snorting. "We could've gotten KILLED because of her, and you think she's so... CUTE??? I know you have a soft spot for girls, Ginji, but this is ridiculous."

"Will you guys PLEASE stop arguing about whether I'm cute or not, and get your asses moving?", Iarra interrupted. "You're wasting time."

As Ginji started crawling, he could hear Ban mutter behind him, "Still think she's cute?"

* * *

Iarra stopped crawling, pulled out one of her daggers, and lied down, her chin resting on the floor. Ginji watched in curiosity as she stuck the tip of the dagger on the floor then held it up. A small circular hole, about an inch in diameter, appeared on the floor, its cork cover being held by the dagger like a piece of meat on a fork. Iarra lowered her left eye to the hole, and looked through. 

She then moved to the side so the retrievers could take a look. Ban lied chest down on the floor and looked through the hole, while Iarra rested her chin on her hands as she thought of a plan. Ginji also lied chest down on floor as he waited for his turn to take a look.

Ban looked through the hole, and saw a small room with three sets of bookshelves lined up on the wall. In front of the middle bookshelf was a large rectangular oak desk, with leather-covered seats around it.

"We're right above Havoc's library", she said. "The desk has a switch right under it which will make one of the shelves slide open, revealing a vault."

As Ban lifted his head to let Ginji have a look through the hole, she continued, "Inside the vault is a kikou (1). The sword is hidden right behind it."

Ginji looked up at Iarra. "So how can we get to the library?"

She placed the cork back to cover the hole. "There's no direct way to go from here to down there. We're gonna have to go through the Grand Hall." With her dagger in her hand, she started crawling to the right.

As Ban followed with Ginji behind him, he asked, "The Grand Hall?"

"It's just a fancy name for a wide and empty room", she said smiling.

She stopped and lied down again, pulling another cork with her dagger. She looked through the hole and saw several Dragons below, most of them kneeling before the columns surrounding the wide space just under them.

She placed her index finger on her lips, gesturing for them to be quiet. "We're right above the Grand Hall now", she said softly, almost whispering so that the people below couldn't hear.

"What exactly is this place?", Ban asked, keeping his voice low as he sat down next to her. "Some kind of attic with peepholes?"

She looked closely at what the Dragons were busy with, and cursed softly. The bastards were installing bombs. She mentally counted the Dragons, then let the retrievers take a look.

"Sort of", she answered Ban's question. "It's a way to move around the building and monitor what's going on without being detected."

"You mean spy on people", Ban muttered as he looked through the hole.

Iarra just smiled. "That, too."

While Ginji took his turn in looking through the hole, she rested her chin on her hands thoughtfully.

Finally, she said, "Here's the plan. There are currently nineteen armed Dragons below us. You two can distract them, while I enter the library and get the sword."

Ginji looked up from the hole to Iarra, and Iarra covered the hole again with the cork.

Ban snickered. "I think that's a terrible plan."

She glared at him. "And why is that, if I may ask?"

"You expect us to deal with the armed Dragons while you saunter into the library and do the easy part?"

"Well, you don't know the code to open the vault, do you?"

"Well, you could just tell us right now, can't you?"

"It's too complicated", she answered, then sighed. "Fine. Me and Ginji can distract the Dragons, while you enter the library and pry the vault open." She gave him a lopsided smile. "I'm sure your magnificent strength can handle it."

"I can do without the sarcasm, sweetheart", Ban said.

"Really?", she asked, her eyes wide in mock surprise. "I thought sarcasm flows through your veins." Before Ban could come up with a comeback, she continued, "So, is that plan alright?"

"No", Ban answered.

She sighed exasperatedly. "What do you suggest?", she asked with gritted teeth.

"How about if YOU distract the Dragons, while me and Ginji get the sword?"

She glared at him. "We don't need two people to open the damn vault, Mido."

"'We'?", Ban asked, his eyebrows raised. "Who told you that there's a 'We'?"

"Ban-chan", Ginji interrupted. "It's okay. I can help her distract the Dragons while you get the sword." He looked at Iarra and smiled. "I don't mind."

Iarra smiled smugly at Ban. "Two against one", she said. "I guess it's settled, then."

She turned again to her right and started crawling towards the trapdoor that would lead them down to the Grand Hall.

Ban glared at his partner and muttered, "Traitor."

* * *

Iarra reached towards the handle to the trapdoor. She was about to pull it open when Ginji stopped her by placing his hand over hers. 

"Iarra-chan", he said.

She looked up at him questioningly.

"You're not gonna kill them, are you?", he asked.

Iarra looked at Ginji who was looking back at her, concern evident in his big brown eyes. She blinked. Yes, that was definitely concern in his eyes. This guy was actually concerned for his enemies.

"No", she replied. "I don't kill unless I have to."

He sighed in relief. "Good", he said, smiling as he took his hand off from hers.

She looked down at the trapdoor, then back at Ginji as she smiled. "Now I know why the Volts were so well-loved." Then she looked back down at the trapdoor, and slowly pulled it open.

Right below them was a man as big as Hishiki, standing over another Dragon who was kneeling down by one of the columns. She slowly pulled out two of her daggers, and pressed the hilt. Clear liquid oozed out from the handle to the tip of the blade.

"I'll jump first and take these two out", she whispered to Ginji. "Once I move out of the way, you jump out and help me take care of the rest of them, okay?"

Ginji nodded.

"And you", she continued, turning to Ban. "jump out and head to the library as soon as you see that they're very busy with us." She looked at the two of them. "Any questions?"

"Yeah, I have a question", Ban said.

Iarra turned to him and raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"Who made you in charge?", Ban asked.

She gritted her teeth as she glared at him. "Mido, can you please not think about your ego right now?"

The Hishiki-sized Dragon heard the sound of people muttering right above him. He looked up and stared, straight into Iarra's eyes.

"Oh, great", Iarra groaned. She hurled one of her daggers down at his shoulder, then gave Ban one more glare as she jumped through the trapdoor.

Ban caught Ginji shaking his head at him. He looked at his partner innocently and asked, "What'd I do?"

Iarra stomped on the big man's face as she dropped from the ceiling, sending him flat on his back. Still standing on his face, she threw the other dagger at the kneeling man nearby, also hitting him on the shoulder. She reached out, and her two daggers came flying back into her hands.

The other Dragons turned to stare at the intruder. Iarra grinned at them as she balanced herself on the big Dragon's face.

"You're pretty brave to take all of us on by yourself, Dark Fleet scum", one of the Dragons, who appeared to be the leader, said in Japanese. He made a gesture with his hand, and all Dragons snapped to attention and pointed their rifles at her.

Her grin became wider. "And you're all a bunch of wimps if it takes ALL of you just to get me", she answered in Chinese so that she could be sure that all the Dragons understood her.

The leader narrowed his eyes at her. "Looks like we're gonna have to teach this stupid girl some manners", he said, this time in Chinese. He flicked his fingers, and the Dragons started firing.

Iarra leaped into the air and did a series of spins, flips and somersaults, while throwing her daggers at them whenever she had the chance, making sure not to hit any vital organs. She had managed to down five more of them now. She landed on one knee and tried to catch her breath as something else seemed to have caught the Dragons' attention.

Ginji was now at the center of the hall, a protective field surrounding him as he fired streaks of electricity at their opponents. She aimed at one of the fighters shooting at Ginji, and hurled her dagger. Instead of hitting the fighter's leg as she had intended, the dagger curved updwards and hit the ceiling.

_What the..?_, she thought. She frowned, and reached out to summon her dagger back. The dagger shook, then started to fly towards her, but suddenly veered off and hit the arm of the farthest fighter.

_Magnetism_, she finally realized. She smiled. _So that's why Jackal had those ceramic scalpels made._

She then stood up and ran to the nearest Dragon, jumped up and kicked him hard on the head. The Dragon fell to the floor. Then she turned to attack two more Dragons at her right.

Meanwhile, Ban had already emerged from their hiding place and was now running towards the door to the library, when another Dragon spotted him and fired. He somersaulted to avoid the bullets flying at him. With his superhuman speed, he ran towards his attacker.

"Snakebite!", he yelled, grabbing the unfortunate Dragon's face and throwing him to the wall.

Ginji deactivated his magnetic field and focused on electrocuting two of the fighters nearest him. As soon as Iarra saw that the magnetic field was down, she summoned her daggers back, and started hurling them at the other fighters. Ban on the other hand, found himself fighting the rest of the Dragons instead of getting to the library as planned.

Pretty soon, all the Dragons were down. Iarra summoned the last of her daggers and stood up straight, panting. Ban was on her right, adjusting his glasses, then putting his hands on his pockets.

Ginji was on the far side of the room. As he walked towards them, Ban surveyed the so-called Grand Hall. It was about fifty feet long and twenty feet wide, with large columns covered in black marble rising up from the black marble floors all the way to the ceiling. The hall had several doors on all sides. Some of the doors were open, revealing nothing but darkness on the other side.

She turned her head to Ban and glared. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be back there." She pointed at the door to the library.

"Well, I would've been there if you did a better job of distracting them like you said you would", Ban retorted.

"Maybe you wouldn't be complaining right now if you had just followed the first plan and distracted them yourself with your partner."

Ban snorted. "You can't blame me for your incomepetence, Dagger Babe." He started walking towards the door to the library. "Ginji, let's go get that sword."

Before Ban could take another step, Iarra suddenly said, "Wait."

He stopped and looked at her. She seemed to be staring at one of the open doors to her right, her brows furrowed. "What is it?", he asked.

"There's somebody there", she whispered.

Ban followed her gaze and stared at the door, but saw nothing. He frowned at her, then stared back at the door.

Ginji, who had now reached Ban's side, noticed Iarra and his partner gazing intently at one of the open doors and decided to do the same. "What are we looking at?", he muttered to Ban.

"I'm not sure", Ban muttered back.

"You can come out now", Iarra called out. "We know you're there."

The only reply they got was silence. She then flipped one of her daggers and hurled it at the door. It disappeared into the darkness. After a few seconds, it came flying back at her face. She swifly stepped to the side and caught it with her hand.

A low chuckle could then be heard, and a tall man with long black hair tied to a low ponytail stepped into the hall. He wore a black jumpsuit similar to Iarra's. But unlike Iarra, he kept his daggers in plain view, their handles visible from the holsters on his waist. And unlike Iarra, this guy seemed to have the word 'smuggler' written all over him.

He grinned at his colleague and said, "You're still pretty sharp, Iarra."

"Gitsu", she said, her voice not hiding the fact that she was not very fond of the man.

Ban remembered Iarra mentioning that name. Gitsu. Reportedly Dark Fleet's best fighter. From the way he walked, Ban could tell that it was probably not far from the truth.

"What are you doing here?", Iarra said, placing her dagger back into her boot.

"I was about to ask you the same thing", Gitsu answered. Then his gaze settled on Ginji. "I didn't know you were working with the Raitei."

"Umm...", Ginji started to say. "I'm not the Raitei anymore."

"Oh, right", Gitsu said, giving Ginji a smile that made the blond feel queasy. "You're Amano Ginji of the Get Backers now." He turned to give the same smile to Ban. "And you must be Mido Ban."

Ban just met his gaze and didn't reply. There was something unsettling about this guy. And it wasn't just the smugness in his eyes.

Iarra turned to the two retrievers behind her. "Why don't you two go on ahead?."

Ban tried to keep his expression neutral as he finally realized what it was about Gitsu that disturbed him.

"Iarra", Ban whispered. "He smells like..."

"Yeah, I know", she whispered back, interrupting him. Loudly, she said, "I'll catch up with you later. I'll just have a little chat with Gitsu here." She gave Ban a look that urged them to move ahead.

"Okay", Ban said.

He gave Gitsu a piercing look, then turned and walked towards the library. Ginji glanced at Gitsu, then looked back at Iarra, who mouthed the word 'Go'. Ginji reluctantly followed Ban.

As soon as Ginji closed the door behind him, he said, "I don't like that guy."

"Yeah, me neither", Ban replied as he started to make his way to the large oak desk in the middle of the room.

"Do you think it's okay to leave Iarra-chan with him?"

"Iarra can take care of herself."

Ban reached the desk and was about to look under it when he noticed Ginji's silence. He stopped and looked at his partner's worried brown eyes. "She knows how to deal with him." He smiled. "She'll be alright."

Ginji returned his smile. "I guess so."

"Now let's go find that switch."

* * *

Iarra waited for the Get Backers to close the door to the library before turning back to Gitsu. "Tell me, Gitsu. What were you doing back there?" 

"I was observing our enemies", he replied. "Imagine my surprise when you literally dropped by with the Get Backers." He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her. "What about you? What are you doing here? And what are those two twerps doing in Havoc's library?"

She gave him a sweet smile. "What those two twerps are doing is none of your business." She walked over to one of the bombs and knelt down. "You should get going. The Dragons are gonna blow the whole place apart in two hours."

"How did you know that?", Gitsu asked.

"I overheard them", she replied, as she studied the bomb. "Can you check the others and find out if they're activated?"

"It's no use", he said. "They've already set up bombs all over the place. Deactivating the ones here will not change anything."

She sighed. "I guess you're right." She looked up at him. "I even came across one in the tunnels."

Gitsu looked surprised. "Really?"

Iarra wasn't sure whether he was surprised because there was a bomb in the tunnels, or because she survived. "Yeah. It made me think they had help with this whole invasion."

Gitsu looked at her for a long time before asking, "Are you saying that we have a traitor?"

"I don't know, Gitsu", she answered, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "But how do you think did they know about the tunnels? Some of our own people don't even know about them."

Gitsu shrugged. "Maybe they accidentally found the exits."

"Maybe", she said, then looked back up at him. "And they also just accidentally found out about our markers", she added sarcastically.

"What do you mean?"

"They carved our markers on the walls. Most of our own people don't even know how to read our markers, much less write using them. There's no way they would know about our codes, unless they had help from somebody who does. And there's only a few of us who fit the bill."

"Are you saying we're being betrayed by an Elite?", Gitsu asked, looking skeptical.

She looked back down at the bomb in front of her. "How else do you explain it?"

"But.. we've never been betrayed by an Elite."

"I know. But that doesn't mean we never will."

Gitsu looked at her, his brows furrowed in thought. "I don't know, Iarra. The Dragons DO have a very good information network. Maybe we shouldn't underestimate them." He smiled ruefully. "They know a lot more than what you give them credit for. It's quite possible that they've known about the markers a long time ago. I wouldn't be surprised if they carved the countdown themselves."

Iarra stopped and stared at the bomb, narrowing her eyes. Slowly, she turned her head to Gitsu.

"What?", Gitsu asked, confused.

"I never told you it was a countdown."

Gitsu blinked at her. "You mentioned it a while ago", he said.

"No, I didn't."

Gitsu stared at Iarra. Iarra stared back.

* * *

"Didn't she say the switch is under the desk?", Ban asked irritatedly. 

"Yeah, she did", Ginji answered.

"Then where the hell is it???"

The Invincible Retrieval Duo were currently under the desk crawling on all fours, and twisting their necks to look up at the underside. Carvings and designs were usually placed at the top surface of desks, where people could see. This desk was different. Ban couldn't even guess WHY the hell somebody would bother carving the underside. Well, aside from making it really difficult for people to find the damn switch. The carvings contained various shapes, and any one of those shapes could be the switch. Ban and Ginji had been scanning the underside with their eyes while feeling the carvings with their palms, but to no avail.

Okay, time to be more scientific about this, Ban thought. Aloud, he said, "Ginji."

Ginji turned his head at him.

"Why don't you start scanning from that side, while I start from this side?"

"Okay", his partner answered.

Ginji moved to the other end of the desk, and started feeling for the switch.

* * *

"I guess that explains why you reek of gunpowder", Iarra said in a low voice. 

Gitsu smiled. "Well, you had me there, Iarra", he said, snickering. "I was right. You're still pretty sharp."

Iarra said nothing and just glared.

"You know, we really could use someone like you", he continued. "So I would like to make you an offer."

She raised her eyebrows.

"What do you say about becoming a Dragon?", he said, grinning. "We could always have room for one more Elite."

She laughed. "You're kidding, right?"

Gitsu's grin disappeared.

"You're not?", Iarra asked in mock surprise. "Oh. Well, thanks, but I think I'll pass. Betraying the Fleet's not my thing, you see."

Gitsu smiled lopsidedly. "Well, that's too bad. I'd hate to hurt you, Iarra." He pulled out two of his daggers from his waist. "But I can't just let you go, you know."

"Yeah, I kinda figured that out", she replied. She likewise pulled out two of her daggers from her boots, and slowly stood up.

* * *

Ban was startled to hear the sound of the bookshelf sliding open. 

"Found it!", Ginji chirped cheerfully.

Ban moved over to Ginji's side and asked, "Where?"

Ginji pointed at a small diamond-shaped carving by the corner.

"That's a switch?", Ban asked doubtfully.

"Yep", Ginji said. To convince his partner, he pressed it. Sure enough, the bookshelf started to slide close.

Ban pressed the switch again, and once again, the bookshelf slid open. He looked at his partner in amazement. "How the hell did you find it?"

"Simple", Ginji answered. "I felt a small current coming from it."

Ban grinned. It was definitely good to have an electric eel around.

* * *

Iarra and Gitsu stood facing each other, daggers at their hands. 

"You do realize that the penalty for betrayal is death, right?", Iarra said.

Gitsu laughed. "You mean the Silver Claw will come and get me?"

Iarra didn't answer.

He stopped laughing and smiled at her. "Well, it ain't gonna happen, sweetheart. You know why?"

"Gee, I'm just dying to know."

"Oh, you'll be dying in a few minutes. Don't you worry."

He chuckled, then turned to Iarra with a deadly look in his eyes. The next sentence that he said was something Iarra had not expected.

"I am the Silver Claw."

* * *

Notes: Mayumi-san is a very slow writer. I've been writing this every night, and it STILL took me one week.I would've posted this last Friday, but wouldn't let me. The delay is not my fault. Especially since I just had a birthdayhehe :-) I'm aiming to finish this before the year ends, since I'm gonna be busy next year. So I HOPE I could post the next chapter next week. 

AmethystRainGrl123: No, I'm not annoyed. I need people to bug me about updating. Makes me want to write faster :-)

Atropos' Knife: If Ban could swallow his pride, he probably would. But that's a big IF. :D Plus, I'd probably suck at writing fluff :-) Don't know if I should go there. At least not yet. Probably in the faaaar future hehe :-)

Rabid Lola: I know you're not rushing me :-) I'm with you on cheering them on :D Hey, guys! Listen to what the old woman said and hurry up!

EffyDurach: Heartbroken? Don't be. This isn't my last fanfic ;-) But you quitting on writing GB fanfics is really heart-breaking. You're a good writer, Effy, and I hope I could read more fics from you :-)

limelie: Yeah, poor Ban. I've tortured him a lot, haven't I? (evil snicker)

(1) Kikou is the Samurai battle armour.


	10. The Silver Claw Revealed

Disclaimer: I think you already know what goes here.

Notes: A bug in the system is preventing me from inserting horizontal lines in this chapter, so you're gonna have to bear with the three dashes.

Updated Author's Notes: Ok, not even the three dashes are being shown. Since this is bothering me greatly, I've updated this chapter just to insert those pesky horizontal lines.

* * *

Iarra stared at Gitsu, unbelief evident in her eyes.

"Surprised?", Gitsu asked, a self-satisfied smirk on his face. "Don't be. We both know that Dark Fleet has never seen a better fighter than me."

She snorted. "Actually, I'm more surprised about the extent of your inflated ego."

As soon as those words were uttered, daggers from Gitsu's hands came flying towards Iarra at incredible speed. Years of training gave her the needed reflexes to leap just in time. When she landed on the floor, she saw more daggers flying at her direction. She rolled to avoid them. She cartwheeled, then did leaps, twists, and somersaults as more and more daggers were thrown at her.

She did one more backflip then landed safely on the floor a good distance from Gitsu, but not without getting a couple of tears on her suit by her shoulders. The daggers flew back into Gitsu's hands. Gitsu held his palms out to her, four daggers on each hand, with a dagger being held between each of his fingers, their tips pointed towards her.

"Wow", Gitsu said, grinning. "I've never seen those moves before, Iarra. You've gotten pretty good since the last time I saw you."

"I've been practicing", she said, a hard look in her eyes. "Tell me Gitsu, why are you doing this? Is it the money?"

He glowered at her. "Don't insult me, Iarra. It's not the money." Then he grinned. "Not that the Dragons don't pay well."

Iarra raised her eyebrows. "So if it's not the money, then what is it?"

He sighed exasperatedly, then replied, "Don't tell me you're satisfied with the way Havoc runs things."

"What do you mean?"

He laughed. "Sheesh, you're even more naive than I thought."

Iarra frowned. "He's the best leader Dark Fleet could ever have."

"You don't have to suck up to him. He can't hear you right now", he snickered. He moved his palms around in a different battle stance.

_C'mon Iarra_, she told herself as she glared at him. _Get him to talk._ "So what does the Burning Dragons offer you that Dark Fleet doesn't?"

He smiled. "Freedom."

She frowned again. "Freedom? From what?"

"From Havoc's stupid restrictions." Anger flared in Gitsu's eyes.

"Restrictions." She stopped and thought about what he said. "Ordering you to stop going on a killing spree everytime you're on a mission is hardly what I call a stupid restriction."

"I get the job done. What's wrong with eliminating the obstacles in our missions?"

"Eliminating the obstacles?", Iarra asked incredulously. "We're talking about innocent people here."

"Those innocent people don't give a damn about us! Why should we give a damn about them?"

"Uhh.. Gitsu", she said with strained patience. "It's a little something called honor. It's apparently something your puny brain can't comprehend."

"Honor? HONOR?" Gitsu hurled his daggers at Iarra. "We're smugglers, Iarra! We break the law for a living! What HONOR are you talking about?"

* * *

_A child, who looked like he was three years old, skipped happily down a set of stone steps in front of his mother, licking his chocolate ice cream._

_"Ruki!", the mother yelled. "Stop skipping on the steps! You might fall!"_

_The child didn't listen and continued skipping. When he got to the bottom of the steps, he lost his balance._

_"Ruki!", the mother gasped as she reached out and caught his arm, keeping him from falling._

_Much to the kid's dismay, he dropped his ice cream cone and it hit the ground with a splat._

_"Waaahh!", the child cried out as he looked down at his ice cream._

_The mother picked her son up. She held him in his arms and whispered, "Shhh.. It's okay. Don't cry."_

_A younger Iarra was leaning on the balcony railings, watching the scene below. The man beside her placed a hand on her shoulder then gave her a gentle squeeze._

_"See that kid, Iarra?", the man said. "Right now, his biggest problem is his ice cream."_

_She looked up at him, and chuckled._

_He looked at her. "I'm gonna give you your first assignment soon."_

_Iarra's eyes widened. "Really?"_

_"You're ready, Iarra", the man answered, smiling. Then he turned serious. "During missions, you might encounter innocent people like them every now and then. They have nothing to do with us. They're just living their lives peacefully." He looked directly into her eyes. "Respect their peace. Always remember that, my dear."_

* * *

Iarra jumped to avoid the daggers, then flung her own daggers toward Gitsu. Gitsu easily leaped to dodge them. They landed on opposite sides of the room, glaring at each other over the unconscious bodies of the Dragons strewn all over the hall. The daggers flew back to their respective owners' hands.

"Just because we're smugglers doesn't mean we have to be savages", Iarra said.

Iarra winced as she felt a fresh cut on the left side of her neck. She cursed. She should be more careful. Her earlier fight with Mido, then the hours spent in the tunnels, then the fight with several Dragons were beginning to take a toll on her body.

Gitsu noticed the cut and gave a sly grin. "Give it up", he said. "You can't beat me. You never have, and you never will."

She glared at him. She really wished she could wipe that smirk off his smug face right then. _But not yet_, she told herself. _Just a little while longer._ "There's always a first time, Gitsu."

"Stop it, Iarra", he said, shaking his head. "You've got the will, but you don't have the skill. You never even hit the bullseye during our targeting competitions, so don't even hope that those daggers of yours can even touch me."

She continued glaring at him, but said nothing. _Keep talking, jerk._ Aloud, she said, "So let me get this straight. You joined the Dragons so you can kill anyone at will?"

He grinned again. "It's a good deal, don't you think so?"

"Well, sure", she replied, a giving him a look of disgust. "If you're a cold-hearted bastard."

He glared at her. She looked directly into his eyes and gave him a glare of her own.

* * *

The shelf had slid completely open to reveal a large circular vault behind it. The top of the circular steel door was as tall as Ban's spikes. At the center of the door was a steel handle that looked like a ship's wheel. To its side was a keypad with a small electronic display.

Ban closed his hands around the handle and pulled. Nothing happened. He frowned, then yanked the handle with all his might. The sound of metal bending against metal grated against the retrievers' ears. Finally, the lock gave way with a loud clank. Ban threw the large steel door to the side, peered at the room beyond, and stared.

The room was square, about ten meters across with steel walls, a steel floor, and a steel ceiling. It briefly reminded Ban of the metal prison cell that he was previously in, except that this room was significantly larger and filled with makimonos (1), sculptures, ancient-looking vases, shields, and different kinds of weapons.

He thought, _Man, they've smuggled a lot of -_

Crrrunch!

Ban turned to the source of the startling sound and found Ginji chewing on an apple. He raised his eyebrow at his partner.

Ginji stopped chewing, blinked at him, then asked, "Want one?"

Ban gave him an exasperated lookthen turned back to the vault. Ginji took that as a 'No'. The Get Backers stepped inside, then looked around.

"Wow", Ginji said. "Look at all these antique stuff, Ban-chan."

Ban stepped closer to one of the vases, then shook his head. "This one looks pretty new", he muttered. He looked at another vase, then another. Finally, he concluded, "They're not antiques. They're just really well-made replicas."

Ginji walked to the far left corner of the room, and spotted a black kikou with gold trimmings.

"Ban-chan", he said. "Look." He pointed at the kikou.

Ban walked over to the kikou that was mounted on a wooden skeleton frame. Even though he knew it was just a reproduction, he marvelled at the skill of the craftsman who made it. Large vertical steel plates with gold cherry blossom designs surrounded the torso, and an elaborate gold crest embellished the helmet.

_She said the sword's right behind this thing_, he recalled.

Just then, he noticed the outline of the top portion of a small door behind the kikou, just above the shoulders. He quickly moved to push the heavy kikou to the side, then examined the square door to what looked like a small compartment.

* * *

Gitsu hurled daggers at her again. Iarra somersaulted again to avoid the daggers raining on her. She threw her own daggers at him, who just easily moved out the way.

He shook his head. "Such a shame. We would've made a great team", he said. He grinned again. "You can still change your mind, though. What do you say?"

_C'mon, Gitsu. Tell me something useful._ She snickered. "Team? You've never been a team player, Gitsu."

He smiled his greasy smile. "I guess you're right. Let me rephrase that." He shook his head again. "Such a shame. You would've been a great subordinate."

"Gee, when you put it that way...", Iarra said, sarcastically pretending to think about it. "The answer would have to be..." She looked at him. "... NO." Then Iarra laughed, turning Gitsu's smile into a scowl. "With your recruiting skills", she said. "It makes me wonder who would be bone-headed enough to join you", she said.

This time, it was Gitsu's turn to laugh. "You know nothing, Iarra." The greasy smile on his face reappeared. "This operation is backed up by none other than Big Boss Hakiyora himself."

She stared at him in shock, which brought a good deal of amusement to Gitsu. He continued, "Oh, yes. Big Boss Hakiyora, one of the major bosses directly under Havoc. Can you imagine that?" He laughed again. "Dark Fleet's outpost in Japan is going down, Iarra. Don't go down with it."

* * *

The small metal door was about one foot in length and had no handle. Ban pounded his fist into it, creating a small dent. He frowned. It looked like this one was made up of stronger material. He slammed his fist again, but much harder this time. The door bent a little.

He groaned, "How the hell should we open this damn door?"

"Let me try", Ginji said.

Ban stepped aside to let Ginji come closer. Ginji held his palms out towards the door and closed his eyes. Waves of electricity danced from his fingertips to the door. After a few seconds, the metal door imploded with a bang and was pushed further inwards.

Ban peered over Ginji's shoulder and saw that the door was now very far out of their reach. He scowled at his partner, who just gave him a sheepish grin and said, "Ooops."

He was about to bonk Ginji on the head when he got an idea. "Hey, pull the door towards you."

"How?"

Ban grinned. "Use your magnetic personality."

Ginji smiled in understanding. "Oh, right. You're so smart, Ban-chan."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. Shut up and just do it."

"Okay."

Ginji held his palms out again, but this time concentrated his energy on turning his body into a magnet. The door shook, then flew towards him. He caught the door before it hit his chest.

Unfortunately, it turned out that the metal door was not the only thing that Ginji's magnetism had attracted. A large medieval-looking shield hit him from the side. He turned chibi as dozens of other metallic things, like spears and sculptures of different alloys went flying towards him. And since Ban was right behind him, the poor brunette was unlucky enough not to be spared from the metallic rain.

"Aaack!", Ban yelled as he ducked and covered his head with his arms to shield himself from the various flying objects hurtling towards him. "You overdid it, you idiot!"

The kikou beside Ginji shook, then tumbled on top of him, crushing the poor chibi creature under its weight.

"Waaah! Ban-chan!", chibi Ginji cried. "I can't breathe!"

As soon as the objects stopped their flights and dropped to the floor, Ban stood up and placed his hands on the kikou's shoulders to pull it up when he saw something that made him gasp. Strapped diagonally on the its back was the Mikazuki Munechika.

"I don't believe this. When she said it was behind the kikou, I didn't know she meant that it was really BEHIND the kikou", he breathed out. He unslung the strap from the kikou's shoulder, grabbed the sword, then laughed with glee. "Ginji, we have the sword!"

"I'm really glad, Ban-chan", his partner's muffled voice spoke out. "But I still can't breathe."

Ban rolled the kikou off his partner, picked him by the hair, then said with a grin on his face, "Let's go home, Ginji."

* * *

Gitsu laughed once more, then gave Iarra a feral grin. "I'll give you one last chance, sweetheart. Do you want to stay aboard a sinking ship?"

"I can't believe you're underestimating Dark Fleet. You should know better than that", she said as she shook her head. "We'll survive without Hakiyora."

He laughed again. "But it's not just him, Iarra."

"What do you mean?", she asked.

"Our best commando team has defected as well", Gitsu answered, grinning.

She frowned. "The Kujiki (2) Squad?"

A self-satisfied smirk appeared on his face. "They're the ones who helped the Dragons with the layout of this place."

She raised an eyebrow, looking unimpressed. "Is that all? Or are there any other traitors we should actually be afraid of?"

He glared at her. "Oh, don't worry. Dark Fleet's gonna have its hands full. I promise you that."

"So it's just Hakiyora and the Kujiki Squad, huh?", she said.

"JUST Hakiyora and the Kujiki Squad?", he repeated, his eyebrows raised. He snorted. "I don't think you'll be saying that once we're done with what we've planned for Dark Fleet."

Iarra didn't say anything more, but just looked at him intently.

Confused with her silence, he asked, "What?"

_Well, it looks like that's all I'm gonna get from you, Gitsu._ Without answering his question, she said in a low voice, "I see."

"Huh?", Gitsu asked.

Her eyes narrowed to slits. "You are such a liar, Gitsu", she said.

He saw the look in her eyes, and stared. I've never seen Iarra like this, he thought. "What did you say?", he demanded.

"I'm gonna have to verify what you said about Hakiyora and the Kujiki Squad since it's very stupid to trust a liar."

He glared at her. "Stop messing with me, Iarra. Nobody challenges the Silver Claw and gets away with it." He threw a dagger at her face.

She swung her right leg in a wide counter-clockwise motion, catching the dagger with her foot and stepping on it as she brought it down on the floor.

Gitsu gasped. _What the...?_

"You're right about that, Gitsu", she said, her eyes hard on him. "But you're also wrong on one thing. Very wrong."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Oh yeah? And what is that?"

"You're not the Silver Claw."

"You're funny", he said, chuckling. "Amuse me further, Iarra, and tell me. Why do you think that?"

"Three reasons", she answered, her face indicating that she was not amused. "First, the Silver Claw will never betray Dark Fleet."

He laughed aloud. "I really can't believe how naive you are, Iarra."

"Second", she continued, ignoring his comment. "The Silver Claw is not dumb enough to leak information just like that."

His smile disappeared. "You've called me dumb, and a liar. You've got guts, Iarra."

He hurled all eight of his daggers at her. She threw her two daggers to his direction, reached into her boot for the rest of her weapons, and hurled them at him. Her daggers hit four of his as they flew in the air. She reached out. As her daggers changed direction to fly back into her hands, they hit the rest of Gitsu's weapons, and all eight of them dropped to the floor.

Gitsu's jaw dropped.

"And third", she continued. Her eyes, as hard as stone, gazed directly into him as she stated her third reason. "_I_ am the Silver Claw."

Gitsu stared at her, his eyes wide. He whispered to himself, "No way."

"What's the matter, Gitsu?", she asked, her face expressionless. "You look pale."

He reached out, summoned his daggers back, and flung them at her. With her eyes fixed on Gitsu, she easily jumped and dodged them, coming closer to him with each leap. She threw one of her daggers at him. He leaped up and avoided it. As he completed his backflip in the air, a second dagger went flying directly at him, and hit him straight at his left chest. He gasped, then dropped down on the floor with a thud.

He lay on his back, panting, sweat dripping from his forehead. He turned his head to Iarra, who was slowly stepping closer to him. He started gasping for breath.

_Dammit_, he thought. He could feel his heart slowing down.

Iarra stood over him, her face still expressionless. "Impersonating the Silver Claw is a very stupid thing to do."

"H-how...", he tried to say as he gasped for air. "... can this be?"

"I never hit the bullseye...", she said. "... because I never aimed for the bullseye."

She sat down next to him, her eyes softening as he took his last breaths. "I'm sorry, Gitsu", she whispered.

His breathing became more shallow. Finally, his eyes glazed over and his body went limp.

"I really am", she whispered. She reached over to his face,carefully closing his eyes with her palm, then bowed her head.

* * *

Notes: Whoa, people have been busy writing new fics for the past two weeks. Anyway, I really did aim to post this last week, but things got hectic, and I didn't get to finish writing this chapter until now. Sorry again, guys!

EffyDurach: Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but you were wrong hehe :D You're going to close your account? Can't you just keep it open just in case you get inspired? :D

limelie: The secret has been revealed just now :P

rabid lola: Oh, shoot. You are sooo right! Thanks for the correction. I'd just like to apologize for being too lazy right now to correct it -

monkey man: Really? Wow, thanks! You know, for a moment there, your name made me think of Shido hehe.

Atropos' Knife: Actually, when Ban tried to warn her, she cut him off. That was my super-subtle way of saying that she kinda knew, but wanted to catch him when he slips. Yeah, it was super-subtle, nobody caught it. Oh well, I promise I'd be less subtle on the next chapters :D Well, there's another way of looking at it. She was so good that she even fooled you hahaha :P Now, about that Ban and Iarra fic... a comedy of errors, huh? Yeah, that could work ;-) Let's see when I get the time to write it. Now that's the tough part.

Littleadryan: Thanks! Hope you liked this chapter.

(1) A makimono is a Japanese horizontal scroll.  
(2) Kujiki means to crush or shatter.


	11. Escape From the Dark Fleet Fortress

Disclaimer: I wonder if Aoki and Ayamine would give me ownership of the Get Backers as a Christmas present. That would be nice, wouldn't it? :D

A/N: Same as the previous chapter. No horizontal lines where they should be just irks me so I've updated this one to insert them where appropriate.

* * *

Ban stepped out of the vault with the Mikazuki Munechika strapped across his back. Ginji appeared a moment later behind him. He walked around the large oak desk in the middle of the room, and headed towards the door where they came in. Before reaching the door, he stopped, then turned his head up and scanned the ceiling.

Ginji asked, "What's wrong, Ban-chan?"

While examining every nook and cranny of the ceiling, he answered, "I'm looking for another exit."

Ginji looked at his partner quizically. "But Iarra-chan's right outside that door", he said, pointing at the said door.

Ban gave his partner a lopsided smile. "Exactly", he said, then continued scanning the walls.

Ginji frowned. "What do you mean?"

Ban noticed Ginji's confusion and grinned. "I say we ditch her."

"What? Why?"

"We have the sword, Ginji. We don't need to hang around that kichigai (1) any longer." He walked over the right side of the wall. "Now go to the other side of the room and help me find that exit."

Ginji looked at the back of Ban's head doubtfully, but complied.

* * *

Iarra was sitting down next to Gitsu's lifeless body, her head bowed. She lifted her head, and slowly reached for the dagger plunged into Gitsu's heart. She pulled her weapon out, shook the blood out from the blade, then placed it back into her boot. She then lifted her palms to her sides and summoned her other daggers.

* * *

The Get Backers spent the next few minutes in fruitless searching. Upon hearing his partner bang his fist on the wall and curse, Ginji stopped his search and looked at Ban, then at the door, then back at Ban with a pleading look in his eyes.

"Fine", Ban said with a sigh. "Let's go through the damn door."

Ginji smiled in relief and walked towards the door. Just as he pushed it open, daggers flew across the room and straight into Iarra's hands.

Ginji gasped, and Ban stopped in his tracks.

They saw Iarra sitting with her back to them. She had her hands extended to her sides, the blades of her daggers jutting out between her fingers. Lying on the floor before her was Gitsu.

"Iarra-chan", Ginji said softly.

She didn't reply. She continued to sit there, unmoving as if frozen in time. Finally, she slid her daggers into her boots, and slowly stood up.

She turned to look at the retrievers. When she saw the handle of the Mikazuki Munechika peeking from Ban's left shoulder, she smiled, but the sadness in her eyes was unmistakable. "I see you've found it", she said.

Ginji walked over to her, concern evident in his brown eyes. "Are you alright, Iarra-chan?"

"Yeah", she replied.

He noticed the cut on the left side of her neck. "Your neck...", he started to say.

"It's fine", she interrupted.

He looked down at Gitsu's body, then back at her. "What happened?", he asked.

She was silent for a moment with a troubled look in her eyes, then replied, "He attacked me."

Ban had walked closer to her and noticed the hole at Gitsu's left chest. Iarra saw what he was looking at and their eyes met.

She looked away, then reached into her pocket for the communicator to check the display. The time read 10:47. "We have a little more than an hour", she said without looking at them. "We better get going."

She walked over to one of the doors to her left side and opened it.

"Iarra-chan", Ginji said, looking up at the trapdoor where they dropped from. "Shouldn't we go back up the trapdoor?"

She stopped. Without looking at him, she answered, "There's no need. There aren't any more Dragons in this building." With that, she stepped out of the door.

The Get Backers looked at each other, each sensing the change in Iarra. Ban shrugged, then walked over to the door where Iarra went to and stepped out, with Ginji following behind.

* * *

Nobody spoke as they walked on. Iarra quickly opened doors and went down some stairs and through several empty corridors, with the Get Backers close behind her. It seemed that she was correct in saying that there weren't any more Dragons in the building.

She reached a door and stopped. She turned the knob, then slowly opened it. Beyond the door were trees, shrubs and various other plants similar to the ones that Ban saw when he came out of the tunnels. Ahead of them was another building, also five storeys high.

"That's where the prisoners are", Ban heard Iarra mutter.

Ban stepped outside, turned to her, and said, "I hope you don't think we're saving them. The Get Backers are not a rescue team."

She looked at him, her eyes devoid of emotion. "Don't worry. We are not saving them", she said, emphasizing the word 'we'.

As soon as Ginji was outside, she darted through the trees. She motioned for the Get Backers to do the same. They moved along the perimeter of the building. When they were at the other side, Iarra crouched behind some bushes near the building and waited for the retrievers.

Once Ban and Ginji were beside her, Iarra turned to the building behind them. "Since this is where they're keeping the prisoners, there's bound to be a lot of Dragons in this area. We should try to make it to those hills without being spotted."

She pointed at the hills in the distance, and said, "Beyond those hills is a river. The flow of the river will take you to a nearby pier. It'll be easy to go back to Tokyo from there."

She looked back at the building again, then turned to the retrievers beside her. "You two go first. I'll be at the rear."

"And why would you wanna be in the rear?", Ban interrupted. "So you could stab us on the leg again when we're not looking?"

He expected a smart retort of some kind, but was surprised when she answered in an amazingly calm way, "Because if the Dragons spot us, you two can go ahead while I make sure that they don't follow you."

He frowned. She was too calm, like she was trying to hide the storm that had to be raging inside her.

"Well", she said, taking a deep breath. "Let's go."

* * *

Ban and Ginji sped through the woods, with Iarra behind them. They had run quite a distance already when Iarra suddenly gasped then fell down. The retrievers stopped and turned to see her face down on the ground.

"Iarra-chan?", Ginji uttered, worry written all over his face.

She lifted her head and shouted, "Go!"

He frowned, then started to run towards her.

Iarra shook her head adamantly then shouted again, "Run, you fools!"

He hesitated.

"Dammit! Just go!", she yelled.

"Ginji!", Ban called out. "You heard her. Come on!"

Reluctantly, Ginji turned around and ran towards the hills behind Ban. Iarra watched as the Get Backers ran on. Once she saw that they had already run quite a distance, she looked at what caused her to fall. On the outer side of her right leg was an embedded wind and fire wheel (2). She cursed.

She rolled to her left side, then pushed herself up with her hands. She closed her fist around the handle of the wind and fire wheel, took a deep breath, then yanked it out. She screamed in pain.

She waited a few moments for the pain to wear off, then raised the wind and fire wheel to her nose and sniffed. The weapon smelled of a familiar paralyzing agent.

"Dammit", she muttered, as she threw the weapon to the ground.

Her leg would be paralyzed soon if she didn't do something. She reached for two beads in her hair, and squeezed them over her wound. She hoped her neutralizing chemicals would work fast. Fast enough to let her get away before Dragons swarmed over her.

She felt her strength slowly fade as blood continued to flow from the wound on her leg. She reached for another bead and had just finished squeezing her blood-clotting chemicals onto her wound when she suddenly sensed something that made her drop her back to the ground. A bullet came whizzing past, hitting the tree behind her. She heard more gunshots and pretty soon, more and more bullets came flying at her.

She tried to lift her leg to see if she could still move it. She couldn't. _This is bad_, she thought, groaning inwardly. She was pretty much a sitting duck. The only thing she could do now was to keep low on the ground and hope that she would be lucky enough not to get hit.

_Is this the end?_, she thought, as the sound offiring riflessurrounded her. _It looks a lot like it._

The explosive sound of gunshots suddenly stopped and was replaced by the sound of several footsteps running closer towards her, followed by the clicking of safety catches. Soon, she became surrounded by a group of Dragons, their rifles pointed at her.

"Well, well, well", the leader of the group said in Chinese. "Looks like we have another one."

He walked closer to Iarra, then picked up the weapon that injured her. He hitched it to his belt, next to another wind and fire wheel. He then turned to his men.

"Take her to the cell", he ordered.

The men answered, "Yes, sir."

She looked around and counted them. _Fifteen_, she thought. _I can't possibly fight all of them in the state that I'm in._ She sighed resignedly and closed her eyes. _This is it. I'm gonna die._

* * *

Iarra's scream reached the Get Backers' ears, making them stop in their tracks. Ginji turned to the direction of the sound.

"Ginji", Ban said. When Ginji looked at him, he shook his head.

"But Ban-chan...", Ginji started to say.

"No but's, Ginji", he interrupted. "The sword is what we're here for. Now that we have it, our job here is over. Now, come on!"

He grabbed Ginji's arm, and started to run. Soon they heard gunshots in the distance. Ginji stopped and pulled his arm free.

Ban turned to him and said firmly, "No, Ginji."

Ginji looked straight into his partner's eyes."I'm sorry Ban-chan", he said."But I have to save her." He then turned around and ran back towards Iarra's direction.

Ban clenched his fist, gritted his teeth, and muttered, "Aarrgh. Ginji, you idiot."

Ginji had only run a few paces when Ban suddenly appeared in front of him, blocking his way.

"I have to save her, Ban-chan!", he protested.

"'I'?", Ban asked, raising an eyebrow. "So what happened to the 'S' in Get Backers, huh?"

The sides of Ginji's lips turned up in a smile. "Ban-chan."

* * *

As two Dragons began to move towards her, she thought about the things that had happened that day. The events in the tunnels flashed before her eyes. She thought about Ban, and his partner Ginji, and she smiled inwardly. Those two twerps weren't as bad as she thought they would be.

Then she remembered Gitsu. And how his betrayal along with Big Boss Hakiyora and the Kujiki Squad had led to this. She frowned. That information was very valuable. Who else would be able to let Havoc know?

_Yes, I'm gonna die_, she thought. She opened her eyes with newfound resolve. _But not today._ For Dark Fleet's sake, she couldn't let herself be captured.

The two Dragons grabbed her by her upper arms, and gruffly pulled her up. She winced as she felt a sharp pain shoot up from her leg, but at the same time, she felt relieved. The fact that she could feel pain from her leg meant that part of her body was no longer paralyzed.

She tried to surreptitiously lift her leg, and was glad when she found out that she could, albeit with a lot of pain. But still, feeling pain was better than not feeling anything at all.

She was surprised when the Dragons suddenly placed her hands behind her back and put handcuffs around her wrists.

_Oh, no_, she thought. How the hell was she gonna fight them now? She was gonna have to improvise, then.

They pushed her forward, urging her to start moving. She found out that she could now stand on her right leg, but she pretended to limp as she started to walk. She kept glancing at her leg and was relieved to know that the bleeding had started to subside.

They reached the building. One of the Dragons stepped forward and opened the door, then they entered the hallway and started to walk towards the prison cells.

Two Dragons were in the lead. Next was Iarra with two Dragons at her sides, followed by the rest of the squad in pairs. The leader brought up the rear.

Soon, the two leading Dragons turned right at a corner where the hallway branched out, followed by Iarra and her pair of 'escorts'. She waited for the pair of Dragons right behind her to turn at the corner, then leapt into action.

She quickly turned around and jumped up, kicking at the faces of her 'escorts' with both of her feet. The next two Dragons that she was now facing gasped in surprise, then fired. But she quickly ducked, letting the bullets hit the two Dragons that were in the lead. While ducking, she stepped forward and lifted her left knee, connecting it with the left Dragon's solar plexus. She then quickly followed it up with a kick to the other Dragon at her right. Six Dragons were now down.

By this time, the other Dragons that were still at the main hallway heard the ruckus. Not knowing what to expect, they stepped back and aimed their rifles at the corner.

"Wong", the leader said.

The Dragon nearest to the corner turned his head to look at his leader.

"Go check it out", the leader ordered.

Wong nodded, then stepped closer to the corner. Cautiously, he moved to peer over the other side of the corner. Just then, a heel suddenly connected with his jaw.

The other Dragons gasped as they watched their comrade fly, then land in a heap far to their left.

The leader frowned as he stared at Wong. He glared at the corner wall, then gave his men a series of hand signals. His men nodded in understanding. They watched closely as the leader held his right palm up and waited for his mark. As soon as he closed his fist, the Dragons all ran towards the corner, turned to the right, then fired.

Iarra ducked. With a loud cry, she ran towards the nearest Dragon, bumping into him with her shoulder as hard as she could. As the Dragon fell backwards, she quickly stepped on his knees, then on his shoulders. She stomped on his face as she leaped, sailing high above the Dragons' heads. She did a front flip, landing a good distance away from the Dragons.

She turned back to the main hallway and ran as fast as she could, ducking and dodging the bullets raining on her. She concentrated hard on not losing her balance, since she found it very difficult to stay upright with her hands cuffed behind her back.

She was almost at the door when her right leg buckled beneath her, making her fall down and tumble on the floor. She screamed as a lascinating pain shot up from her leg. When she finally stopped rolling on the floor, she glanced at her wound and saw that it was starting to bleed again. It seemed her maneuvers had opened up her wound.

She leaned her head back on the floor and tried to catch her breath. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the leader walking slowly towards her, his rifle aimed and ready to fire.

_No_, she thought frantically as she watched the leader come closer. _I can't die yet. I just can't._

She tried to get up, but failed. She winced as her wound protested against any more movements. Soon, she found herself looking straight at the barrel of the leader's rifle.

"Sayonara", the leader said. "Dark Fleet scum."

He pulled the trigger. She winced as she gathered her remaining strength to roll away from him. The bullet hit the area on the floor where she previously was.

He chuckled. "That was pathetic", he said in Japanese.

She hated to admit it, but she had to agree with him. Her hands were tied behind her back, she could barely move her right leg, and worse, she was bleeding badly. Her chances of surviving this looked pretty slim. But slim or not, she vowed to herself that as long as she still had the strength, she would do all that she could to make it difficult for the bastard. She dragged her injured leg and started to crawl towards the door.

She rolled to the side as he fired again. She barely avoided getting hit.

"You know", the leader said as he sighed. "If I had the time, I would like to play with you some more, but unfortunately, we're in a tight schedule today. Sorry."

He then fired two consecutive shots at her. She successfully avoided the first bullet. To her horror, she found out that she wasn't quick enough to roll away from the second bullet.

_Well, at least this is gonna be a quick death_,she closed her eyes and waited for the bullet to pierce her skull.

The bullet didn't come. She opened one eye, unsure of what was happening. Then she opened her other eye in shock. The bullet was floating in midair inches from her face.

He fired again. Sparks flew as the bullet seemed to hit an invisible shield that was protecting Iarra. The wind and fire wheels hitched on the leader's belt started to shake. She gazed up at his face. He looked to be equally in shock as he stared at something by the door.

She turned her head to the door and what she saw made her eyes open wide. "Ginji", she whispered.

Standing at the door was the former Volts leader with his palms up, directing his magnetic shield around her. He grinned at her. "Hi", he said.

The leader finally recovered from his shock. He fired again at Iarra. Sparks flew as the second bullet hit the shield, but the shield held on. Frustrated, he glared at Ginji and shifted his aim at the intruder. He fired at the blond. Ginji moved his palm and created a shield before him to stop the bullet. Using his other palm, he sent streaks of electricity straight at the leader.

"Aaaaahhhh!", the leader screamed as he fell backwards toward the floor, tendrils of smoke coming out of his clothes.

When they saw that their leader was down, the other Dragons aimed at Ginji, then fired. Ginji jumped over Iarra and ran towards them, sparks of electricity dancing around his body. He gave a battle yell, then directed a tremendous amount of voltage at his attackers. The Dragons screamed.

Iarra watched him in awe. _Wow_, she thought.

Suddenly, she felt herself being scooped up from the floor. The next thing she knew, she was headed towards the door with great speed. It took a while for her to realize that she was being carried. She looked up and saw very familiar spikes and purple glasses.

She frowned. "Mido?"

Ban looked down at her, then grinned lopsidedly. "Yo", he replied.

Her frown turned into a full glare as she asked, "What the hell are you doing?"

His grin disappeared and glared back. "Saving your ass, apparently."

"My ass doesn't need saving."

"Feh", he snorted. "It doesn't look that way to me."

They had gotten to a small clearing in the woods, where Ban put Iarra down with her back against a tree trunk. He reached for her handcuffs and pulled the clasps apart, freeing her wrists. He then stood back up and put his hands in his pockets as he looked back at the building. Patches of blood colored his shirt where it came in contact with Iarra's wound.

"You can stop thanking me now", he said sarcastically.

She sighed. "You could've already gotten away from this place. Why'd you come back?", she asked.

He answered, "I don't know. Ask Ginji when he gets here."

"Oh, so this was his idea?"

He chuckled. "Did you actually think it was mine?"

She met his eyes, then replied quietly, "No, I guess not."

He looked back at her and frowned. After a long moment, he asked, "How's your leg?"

"Gee, let me see", she answered. "Aside from the sharp pain and the fact that it's bleeding profusely as you can see, it's fine."

Ban almost smiled. It was actually a relief to hear her sarcasm.

Iarra noticed the amusement in Ban's eyes. "What?", she asked irritatedly.

"Nothing."

Suddenly, they heard a set of footsteps running towards them. Ban saw Iarra quickly pull two of her daggers from her boots. He held his hand up to signal her to relax. Iarra looked closer at the source of the sound and loosened up at the sight of Ginji running towards them. She put the daggers back into her boots.

Ginji got to the clearing and ran over to Iarra. "Iarra-chan", he said. "Are you alright?" He looked at her wound which was still bleeding heavily. "That looks bad", he remarked worriedly.

She sighed and leaned her head against the tree trunk. "It is", she said. She reached for a bead from her hair and squeezed its contents into her wound.

Ginji kneeled down next to her. "What's that?", he asked.

"Something to stop the bleeding. The problem is, I don't have enough", she answered, then gave him a weak smile. "You should both go ahead. I'm just gonna slow you down."

He frowned. "Is there anything we can do?"

"I don't think so", she said.

"Actually, there is", Ban said.

Ginji and Iarra both looked up at him.

Ban smiled. "Have you heard of electrocautery?"

Ginji shook his head, and Iarra raised her eyebrows.

"You mean burn my blood vessels to stop the bleeding by using electricity?", Iarra asked.

"Yep", Ban replied, smiling smugly. He then turned to his partner. "Ginji, you CAN do that, can't you?"

Ginji smiled. "No problem!"

Ginji turned back to Iarra and placed his hand over her wound. Remembering the power that she witnessed from Ginji earlier, Iarra suddenly grabbed Ginji's wrist. Ginji looked at her questioningly.

"Ummm...", she said. "Go easy on it, okay?"

Ginji smiled again. "Of course."

She took a deep breath, then exhaled as she said, "Okay." She let go of his wrist, closed her eyes and braced herself.

Ginji turned his attention to her wound. With great concentration, he directed a few volts of electricity towards her skin. She groaned with pain as she grabbed one of the large roots protruding from the ground near her. Ginji stopped and looked at Iarra's face with concern.

"Just go on", she whispered, her eyes still shut tight.

Ginji complied. Iarra gritted her teeth and winced as she squeezed the root in her hand with every pain that she felt from the electricity searing through her flesh.

Finally, Ginji lifted his hand from her wound and said, "There. I think the bleeding has stopped now."

Iarra opened her eyes and examined Ginji's handiwork. Parts of her leg were burned, but Ginji was right. The bleeding had stopped. She looked back at Ginji and smiled.

"Thank you", she said. Then she looked up at Ban. "You, too."

Ban gave her a curt nod, while Ginji said, "You're welcome, Iarra-chan."

She pulled one of her daggers out and used it to cut the remaining sleeve off her suit. Then she used the cut sleeve to wrap the wound on her leg. When she was done, she took the the communicator from her pocket and looked at the time. It was 11:41.

"We only have about twenty minutes", she said.

"Can you stand up?", Ban asked.

She nodded. "I think so." Ginji proceeded to help her up, but she shook her head. "I can do this", she said.

Ginji let her get up by herself, but stayed close so that he could catch her if she fell. But she was able to stand up, although with a lot of effort. She lifted her left knee to see if she could stand on her right leg.

"It hurts like hell, but at least I can still stand on it", she said.

She felt drops of water falling on her head, and she looked up. It had started to rain.

She looked at the Get Backers and said, "Let's move."

* * *

The rain was now pouring down in torrents, making the ground very slippery. The sound of rumbling thunder could be heard in the distance. The trio ran through the woods, with Iarra limping slightly.

The rain slightly obscurred their vision, which was why Iarra didn't notice the stray branch at her path before she ran into it. She gasped as it tore through her suit and scratched her flesh.

She stopped running and saw that there was now a large tear in her suit from her collarbone to her chest, making her suit dangerously close to falling off.

"Darn it", she muttered, placing a hand over the torn fabric to hold it in place.

She collected her bearings and was about to start running again when Ban tossed his white shirt over to her.

"Here", he said.

She caught the shirt with her other hand and looked at Ban in surprise. She saw that he was now in his dark undershirt.

"Uhh.. Thanks", she said.

When she was done putting the shirt on, she motioned for the Get Backers to start moving. Thankfully, they did not encounter any more Dragons and they reached the hills without incident. Once they were at the top of one of the hills, Ban and Ginji saw the river and the dock that Iarra mentioned. Tied to the dock were three orange Zodiacs (3).

They went down the hill and headed straight toward the nearest Zodiac, which looked like it was capable of carrying eight people. Iarra untied it then hopped in, followed by Ban, then Ginji. She quickly started the motor.

"Do you know how to run this thing?", she asked them.

"Yeah", Ban replied.

"Good", she said, as the motor hummed to life.

The Zodiac started to move. Iarra directed the boat to go with the flow of the river. As it gained speed, she turned to the retrievers with a serious look in her eyes.

"I really appreciate what you guys have done", she said. "But for both our sakes, I hope we never cross paths again, Get Backers."

And with that, she turned around and leaped high above them, somersaulting in the air, and landing on one knee at the dock.

The Get Backers' eyes widened. "Iarra-chan!", Ginji called out.

Iarra stood up and turned around to face them, the tails of Ban's shirt waving with the wind.

"What the hell are you doing?", Ban yelled at her.

She smiled at the Get Backers' bewildered faces as thunder rumbled in the sky. She gave them a little salute, then quickly turned around and ran back towards the hills.

Ban stared at Iarra's receding form as they moved farther from the dock. Then he gasped as it dawned on him. "She's gonna try to save the prisoners", he breathed out.

"What?", Ginji asked,turning to him with his eyes wide open."But the place is gonna blow up soon!"

"She's crazy", was all Ban could say as he shook his head.

The Zodiac was starting to swerve, so Ban turned his attention to keeping the boat in the right direction. Ginji continued to stare at the hills, where Iarra had long disappeared to. Suddenly, they heard several loud explosions. They gasped as undulating masses of black smoke surged from behind the hills.

"Iarra-chan", Ginji uttered.

They stood there staring, rainwater dripping down their faces, watching the large billows of smoke slowly fade against the lightning-streaked sky. There was nothing else they could do as the Zodiac moved farther and farther away along the raging river.

* * *

Notes: Well, this is supposed to be the last chapter. But if I have the time, I'll write an epilogue. Hopefully, I could get it done before the year ends. Have a merry Christmas, everyone!

EffyDurach: (Mayumi-san chokes as Effy strangles her) Chocolate cookies? Yummm! Can I have some? hehe :P

Atropos' Knife: Ok, I accept your challenge. But, don't expect the fic to be out anytime soon. I'm thinking of doing two more fics completely unrelated to this one. Given my 'speed' at writing, I think you know what I mean by "don't expect the fic to be out anytime soon". :-D

Rabid Lola: More flashbacks? Well, not in this fic. I kind of have her backstory already, but I can't find a place to insert more flashbacks in this chapter. And I don't think it'll be appropriate to insert one in the epilogue. Sorry. But I think I can find a way to put one or two in the sequels ;-)

(1) Kichigai means "a maniac or insane person".  
(2) Wind and fire wheels are traditional Chinese weapons. They're discs (like Yukihiko's weapon) with sharp rays around it called the "tongues of fire". A fighter usually has two of these, one on each hand. You can search on Google to see what it looks like.  
(3) A Zodiac is an inflatable motorized rubber boat.


	12. Epilogue

Disclaimer: Nope, Aoki and Ayamine didn't give me ownership of the Get Backers as a Christmas present.

Author's Notes: Again, I've updated this chapter just for those troublesome horizontal lines.

* * *

Ban and Ginji sat at one of the booths of the Honky Tonk, completely ignoring each other as they wolfed down on a plateful of Paul's sandwiches. Paul watched them from behind his dark glasses as he pretended to read the paper.

Ban seemed to be the more injured of the two. He had a lot of scratches and cuts on his face and arms. Plus, he was wearing his old turtleneck shirt, which Paul hadn't seen in years. That probably meant that he somehow lost his other shirt. Ginji, on the other hand, managed to get only a few scratches on his face.

Ban finished emptying his plate first. He eyed the last sandwich on Ginji's plate, still untouched as Ginji was munching on another. "Snake-", he started to say.

"BITE!", he yelled as he grabbed his partner's sandwich and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Ban-chan!", Ginji protested. "That's mine!"

"Not anymore!", he said with a smirk.

"You're so cruel, Ban-chaaaan!"

"Sheesh! Relax, Ginji", Ban said as he noticed the tiny sparks that started to appear from Ginji's fingers. "It's just a sandwich."

"Just.. a sandwich?" His whole body was now enveloped in sparks as he looked at his partner incredulously.

"Oi, oi, oi!", Paul interrupted, standing up and folding his newspaper. "I'll just make you another one. Any more damages to this place will just be added to your ever-growing tab, which, may I remind you, hasn't been paid yet even though you two got advance payment on your last job."

"We didn't pay you because we used the money to prepare for the job", Ban said.

Paul snorted as he made Ginji's sandwich. "By 'prepare', did you mean splurging on sushi platters and yakitori?"

"Hey, we can't work on an empty stomach, you know. Besides, you don't have to worry. We're gonna be paid the rest of the fee today. We PROMISE to settle our tab later, okay?" He then took a sip of coffee from his personal cup.

"Don't make promises you can't keep", Paul muttered. "Here", he said aloud, pushing the plate containing the newly made sandwich over the bar towards Ginji.

"Yey!", Ginji said cheerfully, standing up and taking the plate back to the booth.

"Hurry up, Ginji", Ban said. "We gotta be at the museum in half an hour."

Ginji nodded and proceeded to devour the sandwich as fast as he could. When he was done, Ban took the Mikazuki Munechika, which was on the seat right next to him, and stood up.

"Let's go", he said, then turned to Paul. "Just add that to our tab."

"Do I have a choice?", Paul asked.

"Well, you could just NOT add that to our tab, you know", Ban said grinning. "We would really appreciate that."

"I bet you would, but sorry to tell you that I'm not that generous."

Ban just snickered as he and Ginji started walking towards the door.

Just as they reached the door, Paul said, "By the way, you're not gonna carry that in plain sight, are you?"

They stopped. Ban looked at the sword and frowned. Paul was right. No one in his right mind would go around in broad daylight with a National Treasure in his hands for all to see.

Paul sighed. "I've got brown wrapping paper in the back. You can use it if you want."

"Thanks, Master!", Ginji said.

"Don't thank me", he said. "I'm adding it to your tab."

Ban made a face as he heard the word 'tab'. "Go get the wrapping paper", he told Ginji as he handed his partner the sword.

"Okay", Ginji said, taking the sword from Ban's hands.

While still talking to Ginji, Ban looked pointedly at Paul. "I don't want him to add something more to our tab, so I'll just go get our OWN tape from the car."

"Suit yourself", Paul said.

Ban then opened the door of the Honky Tonk, stepped out, then headed towards the Ladybug that was parked in front of the cafe. He walked over to the passenger's side, got out his key and opened the door.

He reached over and pulled the latch of the glove compartment. As it opened, one of its contents fell out. He quickly caught it and stared at the object in his hand. It was Iarra's sleeve.

His eyes unconciously went to the cut at his wrist, where the sleeve was wrapped around the day before. The wound was starting to dry up now. He sighed as he put the sleeve back to the glove compartment. It was Ginji who insisted that they keep it.

Snapping out of his reverie, he quickly rummaged through the markers, pieces of paper, and other junk that was in the glove compartment until he found what he was looking for. He took the tape then closed the glove compartment. After locking the passenger door, he walked back to the Honky Tonk.

* * *

Inside the Honkan (1), Wataki Taese handed the Get Backers a crisp check and bowed.

"Thank you, Get Backers, for getting our National Treasure back", Wataki said.

The retrievers returned the bow.

"You're welcome, Wataki-san", Ginji said.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you", Ban added.

* * *

The Get Backers had exitedthe Tokyo National Museum to walk back to their car. When they turned to the street where they parked it, something caught their eye, making them stop in their tracks. Their jaws dropped open as they saw a towtruck pull the Ladybug across the street.

"Ban-chan", Ginji said as they watched the car disappear around a corner. "Why didn't we just pay for the parking fee?"

"Well, I didn't think we'd be gone that long", he grumbled. "Darn."

* * *

Having no choice but to walk, the Invincible Retrieval Duo weaved through the crowded streets of Tokyo. The fact that it was also rush hour made it worse. When the pedestrian light turned green, they made their way across the street, then passed by a building that had a large viewscreen up on its front wall. In the viewscreen was a pleasant-looking woman behind a desk, announcing the local news.

"... have been confirmed to be Dark Fleet headquarters", the anchorwoman was saying.

Ban and Ginji stopped in their tracks and looked up at the viewscreen, which was now showing a top view footage of burning buildings and trees.

"Firefighters, with the help of the downpour yesterday, have successfully contained the resulting forest fires, which were estimated to have been burning for three hours before the authorities were contacted", the anchorwoman's voice said.

The camera showed another angle, and the retrievers recognized one of the burning buildings as the one where they had passed by last, the one where they saved a certain Dark Fleet agent.

Their eyes widened at her next sentence. "The explosion has killed at least seventy-six, most of which are suspected to be members of Dark Fleet."

The scene reverted back to the anchorwoman, who continued. "Police have arrested and are now questioning several members of the smuggling group called the Burning Dragons, who were also found at the scene." She paused. "In other news..."

Ban and Ginji were still staring at the viewscreen, but they were no longer hearing the words that the anchorwoman was saying, both of them lost in their own thoughts.

"Ban-chan, do you think she's alright?", Ginji asked as he turnedworried eyesat him.

Ban continued to stare at the viewscreen. After a long moment, he continued walking, not answering Ginji's question.

"Ban-chan...", Ginji said, catching up with him.

Without looking at his partner, Ban said softly, "I don't know, Ginji." He then shook his head. "I really don't know."

* * *

It had been three days since they've returned the Mikazuki Munechika to the Tokyo National Museum. The Get Backers had spent a great deal of their money on paying for the Ladybug's towing fees on two seperate occasions, getting the Ladybug her much needed repairs, and of course, finally paying their tab at the Honky Tonk. For once, the Get Backers didn't have money problems.

Ban sat at one of the stools by the bar of the Honky Tonk, resting his chin on his hand, an unlit stick of cigarette dangling from his mouth. He was still wearing his turtlenecked shirt.

Ginji was sitting next to him, sipping a cup of hot coffee as he related the woes of their latest job to the part-time waitress standing behind the counter.

"We couldn't get close enough, so we're not sure if that's the guy we're looking for", Ginji was saying.

Natsumi frowned in confusion. "You're not sure?"

"Well, it was pretty dark, so it was hard to see."

"Didn't you bring your night-vision goggles?"

"Well... ummm", Ginji said, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. "We kinda lost them at the job that we had before this one."

"Oh", she said sympathetically. "That's too bad."

"So why didn't you just buy a new one?", Paul asked, not looking up from his paper. "You have the money now, right?"

Ginji glanced at his partner, whose thoughts seemed to be somewhere else, then turned back to Natsumi and Paul. "Well, we wanted to get one just like the one that we used to have, but none of the stores that we looked at has it." He took another sip from his coffee. "But it doesn't matter. We'll manage. We're gonna go back there later to observe the guy."

"Well, I'm sure you'll get the object back. You always do!", Natsumi said, smiling at him.

Ginji gazed at Nastumi's face, her smile so sweet that he found it impossible not to smile back. "Thanks, Natsumi-chan."

He then took another sip from his cup and watched Ban out of the corner of his eye. His partner had been a little quiet lately. He had asked Ban about it the day before, but he just shrugged and answered, "Nothing."

Ginji took the last sip of his coffee and placed the cup down on the bar. "Thanks for the coffee, Master", he said.

Paul nodded in acknowledgment, but said, "You do know it's not free, right?"

Ginji smiled sheepishly. "Well, just put it on our tab."

"Why do you always have to have a tab? Why can't you just pay now?"

"We'll pay you tomorrow", Ban said grumpily, then stood up and headed towards the door. "Let's go, Ginji. We have to work now."

Paul raised an eyebrow at Ginji, who shrugged.

Ginji then stood up, waved at Paul and said, "Good night, Master." Then his eyes lingered on Natsumi. "Good night, Natsumi-chan."

Natsumi smiled at him and replied, "Good night." She turned a concerned look at Ban. "Good night, Ban-san."

"G'night", Ban muttered.

Ban stepped out of the cafe, and turned right to where the Ladybug was parked. He suddenly stopped and dropped the cigarette from his mouth as he stared at his car. Ginji appeared behind him, saw what Ban was looking at, and stared as well.

Sitting on the hood of the Ladybug was Ginji's backpack. Ban frowned, then quickly scanned his surroundings, looking intently at each person that was nearby. All he saw was an an old woman with a walking stick, two high school girls chatting loudly with each other, and a young man whistling as he passed by. Not finding anyone who looked suspicious, he turned back to the backpack, and took a few steps toward it.

He slowly opened the zipper. Cautiously, he peered inside and was surprised to see his white shirt neatly folded. As he took it out of the backpack, his eyebrows shot up as he was greeted with a fresh-smelling scent, like it had been newly washed. He held the shirt by the shoulders, taking out of its folded state, and saw that the blood stains were out. It looked as good as new.

Ginji had already stepped up to the hood and was now looking inside his backpack.

"It's still here!", he exclaimed with glee, taking out their night-vision goggles. He placed the goggles on the hood next to the backpack and continued to rummage through the knickknackery that were the backpack's contents. "Everything's still here!" He took out a small plastic bag filled with scary-looking onigiris. He held it out to Ban's face. "Even our snacks are intact!"

"Ugh! Ginji!", Ban exclaimed, making a face. "That's disgusting!"

Ginji laughed at Ban's facial contortionist skill. Before long, Ban was laughing with him.

When the laughter died down, Ginji said, a wide grin still on his face, "She's alright, Ban-chan! You can stop worrying now."

Ban's grin disappeared as he looked at his partner incredulously "What? I wasn't worried about HER, you idiot! I was more worried about my shirt."

"Really? Not even a_little_ tiny bit?"

"No."

"How about mildly concerned?"

"No!", Ban said, glaring at him.

"How about..."

"Ginji", Ban interrupted, gritting his teeth. "Just shut up and get in the car. We have a job to do."

Ginji grinned as he took the goggles and his backpack, and made his way to the passenger side of the car. He was glad Ban-chan was back to normal.

Above the Honky Tonk, up on the roof, a dark figure slowly stood up and stepped out of the shadows, its feminine outline silhoutted against the backdrop of the full moon. The figure was wearing a black jumpsuit, with her hair up in a bun, her hair beads glistening under the moonlight as she chuckled.

"Get Backers", Iarra said. "You really are a very fascinating pair."

She stood there smiling as she watched the white Subaru 360 speed away, its taillights disappearing into the distance.

* * *

Notes: FINALLY! It's finished! I made it before the year ended! Yahoooo! I couldn't help myself from inserting a little Ginji x Natsumi hint in here. They're just so cute :D Well, thanks to those of you who've read this far :-) And many thanks to those who left reviews. This is my first fic, so your encouragement really means a lot :-) And as a little treat, here's my rant on my OC.

Iarra

The cover of the Tsuya artbook by Nakajima Atsuko inspired the character of Iarra. That cover had a picture of Ban, my favorite character (bet you already knew that), in a tuxedo, and a really cute girl behind him holding a gun. The girl, I found out later, was a character from another series. I thought they looked gorgeous, so I thought, what if there was a character like that in GB - somebody who seemed so cute and innocent, but turned out to be really deadly?

I originally thought of writing a story that had the Tsuya cover as one of the scenes. But then, the story I came up with assumes that the Get Backers had already met the girl. I thought of a backstory for it, but soon decided that the backstory seemed good enough to be its own fanfic. Thus, the plot for the Silver Claw was born.

I do realize that Iarra had evolved to be very different from the girl in the Tsuya cover. Since I wanted to stay true to the GB mood, the fact that no good fighter in GB uses guns made me decide to change her weapon of choice.

Okay, I'm done with my "Behind the Scenes" portion hehe :) Have a good year ahead, everyone!

* * *

EffyDurach: Well, here it is. Hope you're satisfied with this ending :)

rabid lola: You just knew she had to return Ban's shirt. You're good :D

Atropos' Knife: Of course I left it open. We don't want to narrow our options down, do we? ;)

(1) The Tokyo National Museum is made up many buildings. The Honkan is the Main Gallery where Japanese art is shown.


End file.
